light

Delicate Moments

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Oh my. It has been quite a while since I last typed in this space. My own photography has more or less gone on the back burner for quite a few months (okay, longer than that even), as I've been almost entirely focused on my full time job. However, as of late the fire has been stoked, and I've found a renewed desire to work on my own images. Part of the itch to create again means that sharing must also happen, as I believe that work shouldn't exist in the vacuum that is my computer. 

So, without further ado, just a handful of images that have been sitting around in that vacuum for almost a year. These images are focused on small spaces; things that create little moments of intrigue for me. Simple, straightforward, and not necessarily all that special. But, these are the subjects that attracted me to photography in the first place, and are the ones that I come back to over and over again. 

Simplicity (moments of light)

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Today's post is a brief one, in contrast to the one from this past weekend. I'll keep it short and sweet, with some images that make me a bit nostalgic. 

Last thanksgiving I was able to fly home and spend some time with my family in Minnesota. I didn't take many photographs (beyond Alec and Emily's engagement session), except for some documents of the light in my parents' house. As I've blogged about before, my parents' house has the most amazing light, and is most likely the root of my obsession with light. 

The windows there act like projectors during the evening hours, showcasing the lines and patterns of the tree branches outside. It never fails to stop me in my tracks and make me stand there in awe, no matter how many times I've seen the same thing. 

Next up: images from our adventure in Tucson over Christmas. Make sure to stop by to see some adorable pups and desert mountain views. 

Don't forget to share via the links below, and hit the subscribe button to stay in touch!

Kansas Homestead

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Happy Saturday everyone! We are currently getting slammed by a spring snowstorm here in Denver, and I'm curled up on the couch enjoying the forced relaxation. I'm also getting caught up (dare I say completely?!) on images and blog posts. Fare warning though, this is going to be a long post with LOTS of images (it was such a stunning place), so buckle up folks.

Last October I drove to Syracuse, Kansas to meet up with Myra and Brandon, two friends from grad school, to give Myra some company while she took images for her thesis work. Myra's mother's family is originally from Syracuse, and they still own the family farm on the outskirts of town (the focus of Myra's thesis). The house has been uninhabited for quite some time, and the land has only been used as grazing land for cattle, resulting in some serious decay and dilapidated conditions. 

The main obstacle to getting into the house was the bird situation. Numerous birds had taken up residence in the home, and they definitely left their mark, on absolutely everything. I have never seen so much bird poop in one area before. Before we entered the house, we tried to make a lot of noise to scare as many birds out as possible. Unfortunately, not all were scared away, which made for some startling encounters once we were inside the house. 

Lots of other creatures had made their home there as well, as well as plenty of tumbleweeds. These items filled the little basement house with lots of great texture, and they all caught the light in rather wonderful ways. 

They have a small tenant house on their land as well, which has also been vacant for a long time. It was falling apart more completely than the main house, with a section of floor completely caved in, and doors that didn't fit right. It still had some wonderful details inside however, and the timing with the sun couldn't have been much better. 

And that sums it all up! Needless to say, my light and shadow obsessed self went a little crazy with documenting it all. Thanks for sticking through that, and hopefully it was all worth it.  

Next up: a short post on my favorite subject in one of my favorite places: light in my parents' home. As always, feel free to share via the links below, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Farm Light

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Yikes. Life has been a complete whirlwind lately, making it basically impossible to get things edited, let alone posted to this blog. In the past month I have made three separate trips to Denver, had my last day of work as a nanny, moved to Denver, started a new job, climbed a few times, camped in an epic location, and hiked the tallest mountain in Colorado. It's been madness I tell you. I am sort of starting to settle into something vaguely resembling a routine, which has given me a few minutes of down time and allowed me to spend some time editing and writing. That said, it's catch up time, folks. 

This first post will be short and sweet, with a focus on one of my obsessions: light and shadow. The images below were taken the night before Scott, his dad, and I drove out to Denver with the moving trailer. We stayed at Scott's parents' farm that night, and the light was mesmerizing. Dinner was ready, but I ran outside with my camera, snapping away furiously, hoping some would turn out. Luckily I was not disappointed. 

home is where the light is.

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When I was home in Minnesota the other weekend I made sure to get out my real camera and take some photographs of the incredible light in my parents' home. My obsession with light, and my need for a light-filled home probably stems from growing up in that house, where every room gets amazing sunlight at some point during the day. 

The first few images below were taken the same day as the garden tour. The giant locust tree in the backyard filtered the sunlight, creating a stunning, speckled pattern on the wall and floor. I took a quick (and low quality) video of it as well, which you can see here, as it was mesmerizing to sit and watch. 

The morning that I was headed back to Kansas I poked my head into my parents' room, which gets incredible light in the morning through their wood blinds. Striped shadows are thrown across the foot of the bed and the bench made by my great-grandpa. This room is a favorite of mine in the morning, and it has set the standard high for my future home. 

This will probably be it for posts this week, since Wednesday is day one of the moving process, and I will be out of town until Sunday because of that as well. Hopefully next week I will have some exciting images to share though! Have a wonderful week, and don't forget to hit the "Subscribe" button on the left to stay in touch, and feel free to share via the links below. 

Projected Light

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*Diving right into work immediately following a longer trip prevented me from getting back on top of getting these blogs posted. But, I have (hopefully) settled into some sort of routine at this point, so things should get back to normal for me now. I think it is safe to expect regularly scheduled blog posts once again!*

It has been a cool, rainy spring here in Kansas (and it seems the Midwest in general). Most days have been cloudy, which means that I haven't been able to photograph nearly as many moments of light as usual. However, about a month ago, there was some beautiful light in Scott's basement. He has a projector screen down there, and the light danced across the screen like some sort of abstract movie scene. 

I love the evening light in his house (or any where for that matter) during early spring. The new leaves create such beautiful patterns and movement in the light, and I have found myself just sitting and watching as the light flutters around with the wind moving the leaves. One of these days I need to document it in video. 

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start!

Next up: Some gorgeous scenes while fishing on a perfect spring evening. 

Flashback Friday: Plant Collection

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This week's Flashback Friday is a brief one, comes from September of last year. 

I have a problem. I am a bit of a hoarder when it come to plants. I have an end table that is just for plants; it doesn't actually function as an end table should. Basically every surface in my apartment that gets light is occupied by plants. This little table is my favorite though. It sits right next to the window, and so when the sunlight comes in, light is bounced around all my little planters, making beautiful patterns and designs on the table. 

I also have a garage sale coffee table that I spray painted silver in my undergrad days (I know, a questionable decision). It houses a few plants as well, of course, and on the same evening as the images above there was a perfect little spotlight on some of the plants there.

In case you haven't noticed, I have opened up a store here on my website! I finally got the store set up in order to get together some money for a brief trip to the United Kingdom this summer. It is my first real chance to travel abroad, and I cannot wait! I don't have set plans as of yet, but I will likely be in Dublin for a few days, and Exeter for a few days as well. So, if you would like to see some (hopefully) stunning pictures of those areas, consider purchasing a print to help me get there (and eat while I am there). Just click on the "Purchase" link on the left to see what I have listed. There aren't many images up as of yet, but essentially any image you see on my website is for sale. If there is an image you are interested in purchasing but don't see listed in the store please let me know. Also, the sizes listed in the store are just some of the options available. If you have another size in mind, please email me. Below there is also a link to donate, which will get you a randomly chosen 4x6" print. Thank you everyone for any and all support. It is so appreciated!

Travel Fund

Flashback Friday: Tiny Jubilations

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This post marks the start of a new series! Since I switched over to this website I have been trying to figure out a way to organize my blog, specifically thinking about themes for regular posts. If you are an Instagram user (or really any other form of social media), you likely have seen the hashtag for flashback Fridays, which is the theme for these posts. As the title implies, I will be pulling images from the archives that I haven't posted anywhere before, and occasionally some that have been posted quite a while ago (usually from past 365 projects). These will likely involve stories or thoughts on how my view of them has changed since taking the photograph, which is the case for today's post.

The past few days I have been digging through my hard drive to clean things up, and find things that I never got around to sharing. I took the images below back in July of last year. These tiny bottles have been the subjects of photographs before as part of past 365 projects. For the most part the bottles had some conceptual purpose in those photographs, but I shot them this time with no real purpose other than to take advantage of the last light coming through my bedroom window. However, when I came upon them this week, they took on new meaning for me. 

That new meaning comes from two different places, though I am only going to go into much detail on one of those in this particular post. While I was doing research for the written component of my thesis, I was recommended an essay called Tiny Jubilations by Johanna Burton. Her essay is a review of photographer Peter Fraser's work, but some of the phrases she uses, along with the general ideas conveyed in the essay, are beautiful and inspiring (as the title alone should hint at). Essentially, through talking about Fraser's photographs, Burton highlights the importance of noticing the small things and taking joy from those things.

That essay wasn't directly on my mind while working on these images, and yet, as I thought of what to title them, the phrase Tiny Jubilations kept popping back into my head.

The second influence on the change of meaning is as a result of photographing a fellow graduate student's thesis show. I will be posting images of her show on here soon (hopefully), so I won't give too much away, but her show was partially focused on the importance of noticing the small things. She filled the gallery with tons of objects, creating an installation that invited exploration and discovery. Photographing her show reinvigorated my desire to capture these types of moments, and reaffirmed my love of them as well. 

Seeing the light come through the string in these little bottles, and the shadows it produced on the windowsill, was (and is) beautiful to me. It seems like a perfect definition of the phrase Tiny Jubilations. Being able to notice these small, and seemingly insignificant moments, is such an incredible thing; being able to get joy from them is even better. It is one of the reasons I love being a photographer.

These Friday posts won't always have such a message attached to them (in fact they probably rarely will), but today I want to advise everyone to take a moment to slow down. It's pretty easy these days to rush through your routine, stay distracted by your phone, and not really pay attention to your surroundings. But this weekend, make it a goal to take some time and just look. I have to remind myself that from time to time, but it is so important to do. It will make your day so much more enjoyable. 

That said, happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a beautiful weekend filled with Tiny Jubilations! 

Daffodils + Light

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Just a simple and quick post today. I know I just recently posted photographs of flowers and light, but I have some more to share. When the light is this good, and I have daffodils on hand, how do you expect me to resist? 

And finally, a single portrait from the evening as well; because my man is handsome and again the light was too perfect to resist. He was working on his fly fishing setup while I was running around chasing the light, and right when I thought I was done I turned around to notice the near perfect spotlight on his hat and face. 

There will likely be more flowers in the coming posts, so hopefully you all don't get sick of them. I've also been trying to decide on some themes to my posts for certain days, so if anyone has any suggestions or requests for particular content types please leave a comment below to let me know!

Fabric Landscape

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A few weeks ago I went out to a new (to me) location to take some self-portraits. You may have already seen one image from that shoot, since it is currently featured on my homepage. Beyond just a basic headshot, I had the goal of also shooting a more conceptual self-portrait, as it had been so long since the last time I did so. 

I went into the shoot with only a very vague idea of what I wanted, which has occasionally worked in the past. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time. The location and materials I had didn't quite work for what I was aiming to do, and in this situation, the lacking of a very specific visual idea left things a little flat and uninteresting. So, the self-portrait failed, but the setup that I had for that ended up being fairly interesting on its own, which is what I have to share with you all today.

I have always really enjoyed images of moving fabric in general, but especially ones that involve some sort of interaction with a landscape. The photographs and paintings by Laura E. Pritchett have served as sources of inspiration for some of my own photographs, largely because of her use of fabric in motion. Thomas Albdorf has also influenced my work, because of his manner of interacting with the landscape. Though I wasn't consciously thinking of these artists at the time, the photographs in this post have likely been shaped by both of them.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and feel free to share this post, as well as comment below to say hello! Happy Wednesday!

Tulips + Light

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For those who have been to my website before, or who follow me on Instagram, you likely already know that I am rather obsessed with light (and I suppose shadows as well). When I see nice light and shadows, no matter what I am doing for the most part, I stop to take photographs. I perhaps shouldn't admit this, but I have been taking pictures of light (some might call it getting distracted) while cooking and burned meals before. Slightly embarrassing, yes, but I just had to get the shot (other photographers understand, right?).

Tulips are another favorite of mine, and when there are great shadows combined with beautiful white tulips, I absolutely cannot resist taking photos; too many photos in fact. The green walls of Scott's living room behind the crisp, white flowers, combined with the shadows from the blinds, created the perfect combination. It also never fails to surprise me how quickly the light can change in the evening. The images below were taken just about minutes minutes apart, and yet the light is drastically different. In just five minutes it went from bright and fairly harsh, to warm and soft. I couldn't decide which I preferred, and I would be interested to know some of your thoughts. Let me know in the comments below!

After obsessing over the tulips, I noticed the incredible light streaming in the front door. I have taken pictures of that light on a different day with my phone before, and was excited that I had my camera with me to get some better images. This may comment on just how far my obsession has gone, but even though I see the light streaming through Scott's door on nearly a daily basis I am continuously in awe of it. I almost always stop to just look and enjoy, often drawing laughs from Scott as I do so.  

Just when I thought I was done taking pictures, I went down to the basement to grab something, and noticed a quieter moment of light happening down there. It felt like a little painting to me, and I really loved how the simplicity of it contrasted the light happening upstairs.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to stop by. Feel free to share, and it would be lovely to hear from you! Happy Monday everyone! 

The Cost of Forgetting (MFA Thesis Show)

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I finally have managed to edit the images from my MFA thesis show, and I am so excited to share them. I was going to wait until Monday (my normal posting day), but I decided I just couldn't wait. 

I had been working towards this show since I started grad school essentially, and it was amazing to actually have my work filling the gallery. Everything turned out better than what I had envisioned even, which was exciting to see. The day that I went to document the installation was perfectly sunny, making things even more beautiful. The miniature pieces hanging from the ceiling were my favorite part of the installation by far. The way that they caught the light and gently swayed was mesmerizing. They even projected little versions onto the floors and walls when the light was right, and bounced streams of light on the walls next to it. I could have sat there watching for a while and been extremely content. The hanging pieces were also intended to be taken by viewers (another reason why it was my favorite part), and so by the end of the reception only red strings were left hanging from the ceiling (as you will see in the last few images of this post). It ended up being perfectly timed, and I loved being there to see the last one pulled down by a friend. 

The work is entirely centered on memory, or more specifically, memory loss. It serves as a visual for memory loss in general, but specifically the inability to remember the mundane, uneventful moments (my artist statement is at the end of this post for those who would like to read that). It was interesting to hear quite a few people tell me that the work made them sad, and prompted them think about all the things they wish they could remember. That said, I would love to hear more reactions to the work. I'm sure reactions to photographs of the installation will be different, but it would interest me to hear them.

Some quick technical information before I leave you with the images. The photographs are multiple exposures (done in camera) of monotone still life scenes, which are printed on transparencies. They were cut into circles using a laser cutter and then mounted to plexiglass. The wall pieces are for sale, so if anyone is interested in purchasing one (or more) please email me for details. 

Artist Statement

            Maurice Halbwachs explains that the constancy of the everyday provides us with the stability required to create memories, and that mental illness is often a result of a disconnection from objects of the everyday. On the other hand, Ollivier Dyens notes that memory is a “matrix” and describes it as “a moving, unstable and ephemeral language.” Our memories are constantly shifting and changing, making it hard to grasp at times. And yet, the ability to form memories is a result of the opposite.  This body of work stems from the juxtaposition between the necessary stability to form memories and the “ephemeral language” that is memory.

            The still life scenes that I photograph focus on the mundane objects that we encounter every day in order to point to their impact on memory. However, the objects are painted to remove some of their familiarity. Multiple exposures are used to suggest the confusion that results from failing memory, as well as the passing of time. The resulting images are unstable and confusing, suggesting that something is in the process of being lost.  

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Welcome + Moments of Light

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Hello and welcome! For those who have been following along on the Wordpress blog, welcome to the new blog (and website)! For those who are seeing my work for the first time, I hope you enjoy and stick around for more. I have been working on my website for some time now, and wanted my blog and website to be seamlessly connected, which means I will be transitioning my blog posts to be exclusively contained here. 

I knew I wanted my blog connected to my website for some time, but felt like the first post should be something special. That qualification, plus the fact that I am extremely indecisive, meant that I just didn't post anything. But tonight, as I sit listening to the printer hum while I prepare for a committee meeting, I decided to bite the bullet and start making the transition. 

I thought it might be appropriate for my first post here to be dedicated to one of the things I am most consistently photographing: light. I am enamored (some might say obsessed) by light (and I suppose also shadow). It is one of my favorite things in life. I am perfectly content sitting and watching the light filtered through leaves dancing on a wall, or watching the shadows move across a room as the sun sets. The way that light passes through and reflects off of glass and other objects fascinates me, and I don't think will ever cease to fascinate me. Most of the images of light are shot on my phone, since I have that with me all the time and these are always spontaneous moments. In fact, I have been known to stop in the middle of whatever I am doing (even somewhat time sensitive tasks, like cooking) just to capture the light that instant. So, with all that said, here are some of my most recent moments of light.