The Novel
In 2020 my wife took a job running a summer camp so we moved to the woods of Southern Alabama. Though we lived on property at the camp, in the country's largest long-leaf pine forest, we had no phone service, intermittent internet, and lived over an hour from a city with any real industry. Needless to say, my options for employment were limited. Then the pandemic hit. During this lull, I found myself reading an extraordinary amount of fantasy novels. I found that when I put a novel down I didn’t want the story to be over, so I began to write.
I conceived of a story that would span many books and include numerous cultures and characters. I developed a loose plan, created a private wiki to keep track of all the details, and began to write. Two years later I finished my first novel which I am currently seeking to publish. Writing this novel was the single most influential creative project of my life. I learned what true dedication is. What it means to write, work, and create when its the last thing you want to do. I honed my ability to envision and hold in my mind vast complex ideas, to take a story and turn it around in my mind, taking it apart and putting it back together to make sure all the pieces fit. I learned what it means to truly tell a story.
Photo Book
This photo book was the first full-scale art project that required me to bring a project all the way from conception to finished product all on my own. In the summer after my sophomore year of college, I went on a cross-country road trip with a few friends. We saw seven different national parks and camped in some incredible places. However, I spent much of that trip battling with ongoing depression and had a hard time enjoying it.
I returned from the trip with a collection of images that were too important to me to just throw up on social media and a whole host of complex thoughts and feelings that I wasn’t sure how or where to share. So, I decided to create a photo book.
The final product is a lay-flat, thick-paged photo book with crisp images of breathtaking views. I wrote prose embodying my feelings throughout the trip that are embedded into the images, as much a part of the image as my experience of them.
Photography
Writing has always been my first love, but photography is my second. I've traveled all over the world doing my best to capture the essence of a moment through imagery. I've flown drones, used my phone, a DSLR, mirrorless, and shot underwater. I've used both digital and film and must say I've come to prefer the authenticity of film.
In all my creative work I am to not look away but to invite the world in. I think I do this most fully through my writing. But there are moments when I have managed it with a lens.
Here are a few of those moments. I hope you enjoy.
