In 2017 I began a photo series exploring trauma. As a survivor myself it was healing for me to connect with others who were on a similar journey. Leading up to a shoot, I’d have subjects send me several photos or a video that represented the period of trauma in their lives. When they arrived we’d sit down and chat about their story for a while. Once they were ready I’d load up their images into a slideshow, project the images onto them, and take their portrait.
After doing several of these sessions I discovered that they were were more than an opportunity for me to connect and heal alongside other survivors but that the sessions themselves were offering closure for the subjects. They were given the opportunity to own their whole story— even the most terrifying parts— and share it with the world, thus stripping the terror of its power.
This session was particularly moving for me. I met all these women through @sanctuary_night, which is a local nonprofit that provides food, shelter, and legal services for trafficked women. Additionally, this organization is providing leadership development and employment opportunities for women who have successfully exited "the life." These survivor leaders boldly opened up to me, sharing many painful moments of their past with me and my camera. Their images depicted things like mugshots, buildings where they were trafficked, or their abusers. They held nothing back. These women were now clearly in control of their own narratives. To witness that level of boldness and vulnerability was sobering and humbling. I’m very grateful for this collaboration.
*all images used with permission
Remote Shoot with Marissa Nadler
I’ve been a big fan of Marissa Nadler. since I first heard her music in 2006, and have been loving the opportunities to collaborate with her, even if it’s remotely. Though I’ve shot her through FaceTime a couple times before, this was the first time that I used the in-app camera. Before I would project the call onto my studio wall and shoot through different materials. The thing that concerned me was trying to figure out how to upsize the small files.
In my last post I explained how I’ve been photographing prints in water. After doing a few experiments I wondered if it might work to do a FaceTime shoot and as a workaround to the low camera resolution, make a small print and reshoot it in water. It worked better than I’d hoped. I was pleasantly surprised to see that an 8x10” print looked more than decent. By the time I added water ripples to the mix, the shots looked amazing. I also had so many images that I liked, apart from the water shot, that I included a handful.
This is Water
For decades I’ve adored 4AD album art from the 80s and 90s. The genius team behind the photography and design was Nigel Grierson and Vaughan Oliver, who operated under the name 23 Envelope. They were responsible for iconic album art of This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, The Pixies, and many more. Over the years I’ve tried over and over again to mimic some of the effects that I saw used in their photography, but my experiments always came up short. Much to my delight, my latest photographic exploration is the closest to their aesthetic, by far…
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Fancher X Feinknopf
Last week I had the privilege of photographing photographers. Great ones, at that. Brad Feinknopf is a legend in my neck of the woods, and to be asked to photograph him and his team in my style was a great honor.
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Cyberpunk Flapper Girl and Other Photographic Mashups
It’s a rare occasion when I do a team collaboration on a personal shoot. I typically prefer to work directly with the model, having them bring their own wardrobe and arrive with their hair and makeup already done. It not only saves time and is easier to coordinate but I also love the challenge of coming up with a cohesive theme for the shoot, basing my techniques, lighting, and color palette on the items that they brought with them. That said, when I do get to work with a great team such as this, I can see how the images really elevate…
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Color and Shape Collab with Larry Robertson
Larry Robertson is a clothing designer, stylist, poet, and many other things. Everytime we collaborate we walk away with fire. He came by my studio yesterday and brought with him a bunch of outfits. We vacillated between shooting and chatting, discussing life, creativity, and navigating the ever-changing world…
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Playing with Bold Colors and Silhouettes
Exquisite Geometry
This was my first time working with Amber. In preparation for the shoot I told her the same thing I tell all of my models: bring 4-6 different outfit options and have hair and makeup ready when they arrive. Once she arrived we looked through the items that she brought and decided a direction for the shoot based on what we had to work with. I love the improvisational element in test shoots. It can really take my shoots in new directions. It makes me wonder if this is what it feels like tobe a jazz musician, going in loose and riffing off the other collaborators…
Read MoreCollaboration with Sustainable Fashion Designer Malvar = Stewart
Celeste Malvar-Stewart is a fashion designer that specializes in using locally-sourced, sustainable materials in the garments she makes. I’ve collaborated with Celeste several times over the years and the thing that I especially love about our shoots is how open she is with the way I interpret her garments. She simply hands me a garment bag filled with delicate treasures and tells me to style and shoot them however I please. I am someone who thrives in situations like this— just improvising and figuring it out as I go. The more I plan ahead, the more anxious I get at all the possible points of failure. If you don’t have a concrete plan you can’t be held responsible if you deviate from it…
Read MoreHow to Create Practical Effects in Photographs without Photoshop
Lately I’ve been exploring different ways to manipulate my images after the fact. Since I’m not great at Photoshop creating realistic effects in Photoshop and don’t like the absence of “happy accidents” when working on a digital file, I prefer to print the images and then physically modifying them. So far I’ve explored crumpling prints, poking holes in them, submerging them in water, and lighting them from below before re-shooting them…
Read MoreThe Great American Road Trip
A couple weeks ago I booked a shoot in Los Angeles but given the extremely high numbers of covid cases I decided to avoid the airports and turn it into a road trip. Though I had made a similar cross-country trip twenty years ago with a friend, this time it was a solo trip through a country in lockdown. It was more than a little unnerving to stop off to fuel up at the only town within 50 miles only to find that every gas station, restaurant, and hotel is closed. I couldn’t help but think about books and films depicting a post-apocalyptic country where one could go days without human contact. That said, the beautiful diversity of landscape hit me especially hard; the mountains, deserts, and the kitsch making me more grateful than ever for this country…
Read More34 West Theater Co. 2021 Season
This was my 11th season working with 34 West Theater, who are based in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Over the years we’ve grown be be good friends and I always look forward to seeing what we create together. What I love about them is their willingness to improvise. Though I suppose that’s an element that most actors celebrate, it’s not always the case that I’m given such a broad range of creative freedom in a shoot. They always come to the shoot with a broad range of outfits, props, and some general ideas for where they’d like the images to go, but they ultimately leave it up to me to transform their ideas into images that they’ll use for promoting their upcoming shows…
Read MorePlants and Plastic with Chyna
I’ve collaborated with Chyna a dozen times now, and we’ve since become friends. She recently came by the studio and we chatted about work, life, and plants, among other things. I had recently propagated one of my plants by splitting it into two pots, one of which I gave to her. Before she left I asked if she would want to do an impromptu shoot with her new green friend. After snapping a few frames with the plant I convinced her to let me shoot some colorful long exposure images…
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The Unmasking: Shoot, Print, Shoot
Last week I shot had a brief session with @mundermonster. I shot for about five minutes, capturing a range of poses. Then I took a break to import the images, select a favorite, and print it out on an office inkjet printer. Then the shoot resumed and I directed Mary in using the print as a prop. I really love this as a visual metaphor for the perceived self…
Read MoreThe Thin Red Line
I met Maya several years ago when I was shooting her senior fashion show collection at CCAD. When she me post some images from my trauma series she reached out and asked to participate...
Read MoreElegance of Form
Print Sale
Print sale! I have a bunch of 8x10” prints that need a new home. $50 shipped (US only)…
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Self-Portrait at 40
It’s taken me 40 years to find myself. Here’s to 40 more.
Read MoreThe Fort, From Above
Here’s a short video I made just for fun. This is The Fort— a sprawling warehouse on the south side of Columbus, where my studio resides…
Read MoreTraumatic Portraits: Integrating the Past and Present
I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember, and I’ve tried everything from medication to dietary changes to shake the issues. In 2017 my therapist suggested that I had survived an abusive childhood but I laughed it off, listing a number of pleasant memories as a counter argument. However, in the years that followed, the more I read about trauma and how the body writes that terror to our DNA, I began to accept the truth and reframe my history…
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