Keepsakes

My mother passed away when I was thirty. Her absence in my life was compounded by the fact that, sadly, I had none of her physical possessions - none of those tiny keepsakes that connect us emotionally to a departed person. I only have the memory of my mother to carry with me.

In the years after her death, I developed a number of close friendships with older women who came to be motherly figures in my life. These women gifted me small antique items that were their personal treasures, but were nevertheless unwanted by their own family members. Some of my close friends have also shared, or entrusted me to photograph, little keepsakes from their own mothers or grandmothers. All of these items have become very important to me, especially since these women have also now passed away.

This project honors the memories of these special women who played an important role in my life, and in the lives of my friends. It’s also a way for me to connect with, and preserve, the memory of my own mother by giving photographic form to the little things I imagine she might have left me. This series of still life images is a reflection on the passage of time, aging and loss.

Illuminating Tranquility

The natural world can mean different things to different people. For some, it's a place of inspiration and awe. For other's it's an escape. For me it is a place for personal solace - a place to reflect upon, and reconcile my memories of a life buffeted by family illness, loss, and the chaotic environment of today's world.

My deep emotional connection to the natural world developed over a lifetime of wandering sprawling woods and waterfronts where I learned to appreciate the preciousness of all life, and to embrace the peaceful interludes of quiet contemplation.

These subtle, intimate, haunting images give visual form to an ongoing search for balance and perspective between a dark past and the living present. Through photography, I seek to transform my ongoing inner disquiet into something both resonant and beautiful, a cathartic journey of reconciliation between the ephemeral angst of life and the enduring truthfulness of the natural world.

Visions

There is a deep sense of yearning in “Visions.” These vivid and expressive images depict an idyllic landscape that doesn’t exist - except in my imagination. They reflect my own cathartic need to occasionally turn away from the “strurm und drang” of daily life and find peace in a dream-like, alternate reality of my own creation.

My use of color in this series - intuitive, painterly and at times flamboyant - is inspired by the Florida Highwaymen artists and the Pre-Raphealites of England . I channeled the creative and spontaneous “rapid painting” technique of the Florida Highwaymen by using a smartphone camera to both capture and edit these images and added the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites with the use of intense colors. The result -a playful synthesis of classic regional folk art with digital technology- reflecting my unabashed love for the natural world.

The Land

The Land series encompasses the coping strategy that I chose for the Covid 19 pandemic. A close friend left a riotous city and purchased a ninety three acre parcel of land in central Florida. For six months I would go to the land during every free moment I had. Here I was able to get in tune with the lands rhythm and lose myself in its strengths and weaknesses mask free. The land, vacant and free for many years, is probably one of the truest and untouched parcels of land I have seen in Florida. The oaks and the palms intermingling to form a truly primeval paradise where bobcats, deer, sandhill cranes, rattlesnakes and a great horned owl move freely and close by. Initially, the wildlife would flee when I was near but they came to realize that I was not a threat. The land is two thirds wetlands and it is a secret sanctuary for the hundreds of sandhill cranes that come to nest there yearly. The land was my private preserve and offered me shelter from the chaotic and uncertain times of 2020. I was truly privileged as so many of the public lands were closed during the pandemic. During my time at the land there was new life and loss of life. Proof that the life cycle is continuous and symbolic for this historical period in time that will forever be marked by Covid 19.