“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~ Confucius
The goal of my photography is to give people images to meditate on, to clear their minds from all the noise that goes on around us, near & far.
Since 2008 I have shooting primarily images that lean towards a minimalist aesthetic, which at first I didn't fully understand why I was doing. I can probably attribute some of it to the financial crisis the US was deep in the beginning stages of. Stress was higher than I'd ever seen in my lifetime, blame was laid everywhere, nobody was accepting responsibility, and solutions were largely absent.
Anytime I start to let the issues of the day overtake my thought process, whether global issues or local to myself, I found that if I get away from it all, deep into non-populated areas, closer to nature, those thoughts begin to quiet and eventually vanish.
As an extension of that I hope that my artwork can be that escape when you can't get in your car and drive 3 hours away from it all.
Since 2008 I have shooting primarily images that lean towards a minimalist aesthetic, which at first I didn't fully understand why I was doing. I can probably attribute some of it to the financial crisis the US was deep in the beginning stages of. Stress was higher than I'd ever seen in my lifetime, blame was laid everywhere, nobody was accepting responsibility, and solutions were largely absent.
Anytime I start to let the issues of the day overtake my thought process, whether global issues or local to myself, I found that if I get away from it all, deep into non-populated areas, closer to nature, those thoughts begin to quiet and eventually vanish.
As an extension of that I hope that my artwork can be that escape when you can't get in your car and drive 3 hours away from it all.
“Make things as simple as possible but no simpler.” ~ Albert Einstein
Photographic History
2000-2002
Other than a lone black & white film class in high school, my hands didn’t get on a proper photo camera until a co-worker in Lutsen, MN sold me her old Nikon FG-20 and a couple basic lenses. Armed with that and miles of Lake Superior shoreline, spacious forests, and the amazing seasons of northern Minnesota I spent the majority of my free time figuring out the basics of working a camera in full manual mode. During my time on Lake Superior I dabbled in selling prints through gift shops, though my style & aesthetic had yet to develop into something recognizably my own. 2002-2006 I moved to Newport, OR on the Oregon coast. My camera and I saw plenty of sand, fog, mossy trees & ocean waves. Still shooting film I started to develop my style focusing on the smaller details of the vast landscapes around me. When shooting big scapes I opted for the minimalist aesthetic, big open skies, abstract views of water, etc. 2006-2008 Many rolls of film later & still just a hobby, I bought my first digital SLR, Nikon D50 (which sadly just gave up the ghost in 2014) No longer being tied to developing, printing & scanning costs I found myself shooting more images, more frequently. In retrospect, I found I had a lot more ‘junk’ images than when I was shooting film as there was no financial aspects limiting me. 2008-Current I was ‘set free’ from a job I had begun to suffer burn-out from and decided to take the latter part of the summer of 2008 to solo travel by car and go all-in on photography as a potential job. 3 months (and one global economic collapse) later I returned home to Portland, OR with a developed personal style: Simple compositions, strong colors, robust atmosphere was where I felt most at home. |
Personal History1976
Birth! 1979-1995 I spent my youth in the south suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1995 Graduated High School, Rosemount, MN 1998-1999 Studied Film Production & Screenwriting in Minneapolis 2000 Moved to Lutsen, MN on Lake Superior to get closer to nature, farther from city life, which provided many beach bonfires, deep woods & stream hiking, agate hunting on beaches and the wintery fun of snowshoeing and cross country skiing. 2002 Moved to Newport, OR to discover the west coast and start my exploration of the amazing Pacific Northwest. Throughout which time I worked at a movie theater and generally lived the small beach town life. 2005-2017 Came to Portland, OR to study Architectural Design & decided this city would be my home for the vast foreseeable future. 2018-Present Returned to Minneapolis, MN, relocating for my wife's job and to be closer to family. I am now set up in NE Minneapolis Arts District in Studio 223 at the Northrup King Building. |
