Artist Bio
Hello. I'm a Corning, NY based photographer living and working in the Finger Lakes.
Ever since using my father's film camera in Key West, FL, my passion and understanding of photography and aesthetics grew first through technical study in high school and then through university studies in philosophy, religion, and English. During my extensive time living and traveling throughout the United States and overseas, I had the privilege to photograph my experiences and see my skills grow as my eyes opened up to the world around me.
I currently serve as the Grants Manager & Gallery Curator for The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes. Prior to this, I worked overseas as the Country Director/Educational Programs Manager for an international non-profit. I hold a BA in Interdisciplinary Humanities from the University of West Florida, an MA in International Educational Development from Columbia University, and completed two years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the country of Georgia. Since 2013, I have shown my work in exhibitions throughout the Finger Lakes region including Corning, Elmira, Ithaca, Olean, Penn Yan, and Watkins Glen. In 2016 I opened my first three solo exhibitions - Home, at 171 Cedar Arts Center's Houghton Gallery, From Whence We Came at Alfred State College’s Hinkle Gallery, and The Light of Other Days at Mansfield University’s Loomis Gallery. In spring 2018 I was part of the Biennial Art Alive Invitational, a 4 person group show at Elmira College’s George Waters Gallery. In December 2018 I mounted Out of Time, a solo show at CAP ArtSpace in Ithaca, NY. More recently, my work was featured in the Arnot Art Museum's 76th Regional Invitation and in summer 2021 I mounted my solo exhibition, From the Shadows, at The Rockwell Museum featuring portraiture of the Southern Finger Lakes. I am currently working on a NYSCA grant funded portrait project, The Tradition Bearers, that will exhibit in late Fall 2022.
I draw inspiration from cinematographers Hoyte van Hoytema, John Toll, Emmanuel Lubezki, Roger Deakins, Bradford Young, and Dante Spinotti as well as from authors Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Maclean, and Madeline Miller.
I am represented by West End Gallery in Corning, NY.
----------------------------
Artist Statement
Photographs are quite literally, the light of other days, the manifestation of past as present. Like surrogate memories, photographs allow the viewer to actualize the past, evoking feelings and memories that are no more. As they think upon this past, they are often confronted by all that comes with it. But rather than looking on with longing and sadness, I hope the viewer will embrace the beauty and sanctity in both the photograph itself and the act of viewing it. By doing so, they can engage in rather than disengage from life around them and let the illumination of the present moment wash over them.
----------------------------
Artistic Practice
I currently use Fuji X-T3 and Fuji GFX 50sII mirrorless digital cameras, shooting in RAW, a digital negative, and with a variety of wide-angle zoom and portrait-length prime lenses.
I fully subscribe to the notion of pre-visualization. It’s like stepping out of yourself, taking in an entire scene, and seeing a finished photograph in my mind’s eye before you even take the photo. I then edit the photo towards the visualization that appeared in my mind’s eye when I took the photo.
Capturing photographs primarily within Corning and the Finger Lakes and then in my travels throughout our region and beyond, frequent subject matter includes water, clouds, landscapes, architecture, and increasingly, portraiture. I lean heavily into long exposure photography, utilize the power of natural density and circular polarizers. I love the implications and meaning that within a single, final image, a multitude of moments exist. Time can be stretched to a degree that nature never intended and juxtaposing a static scene with movement allows the viewer to inhabit a space outside our notion of time.