Ordinary Miracles

These images are studies of ordinary places that speak to collective ideas about transcending and failing to transcend temporal reality. Earthly objects linger in uncertain spaces as their existence hangs in a fragile moment between presence and absence. 

Cameras and our eyes have an inherent limitation to see only the concrete objects before them. This impenetrable threshold is sometimes idyllic and at other times unsettling, showing us representations of ordinary miracles hidden in the landscape of the quotidian. These frozen moments in time speak to the presence of the sacred in everyday life, so often seemingly forgotten by the world.

 

Ordinary Miracles is my long term photographic research project. Within this framework I explore different modalities of  expressing this concept. 

Sun Paintings (Alt Process)

Images made by the sun on watercolor paper hand painted with emulsion. This is where alchemy meets photography for me. I enjoy making images from the less "noble" historic processes that were overlooked such as cyanotype and anthotype, reinterpreting them in a hybrid process that creates images that were not possible before digital technology. Cyanotypes are captured with iPhones/toy cameras, and printed small (5x5"). They are rephotographed digitally and enlarged to emphasize the texture of the Rives BFK paper and then printed as archival inkjet images. Anthotypes are also created from mostly digitally captured images, which are printed onto watercolor paper that has been coated with the colored juices from edible plants and spices. These are also rephotographed and printed digitally, with some basic adjustments in Lightroom. Some of these images have been exposed and recoated with different emulsions several times to create a layering effect that is inspired by painting and printmaking traditions. 

Fragments

Fragments are images taken with iPhones and other small digital cameras that are presented as documentary images with minimal post processing that are inspired by Lomography and toy/cheap camera image making practices. They were made during the Covid lockdowns and are taken in the local spaces I inhabited during this time.

Visions

Visions are minimally processed digital images taken with iPhones, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras that are reflective of cultural signifiers of the concepts of heaven and hell, of quotidian spaces that hint at our connection with the divine, but ultimately fail to transcend the imperfections and temporal nature of our collective human experience.

Femme

The Femme series are images that are reflective of cultural ideas of transcendence from the point of view of the female gaze and experience. They are digital images taken in the documentary tradition with large and small digital cameras.

Film

These are images captured on black and white film from a selection of my 35mm, 120 and 4x5 cameras- cheap, expensive, pinhole and toy cameras. Most are processed in Caffenol, which is my only developer these days, although some have been done with traditional chemicals. I have developed (yes, sorry for the pun...) custom formulas for panchromatic (regular) film and litho film (high contrast film I use in my 4x5 camera). Images have either been scanned or printed in the darkroom using traditional darkroom chemicals or my formula for Caffenol, which produces a rich tonal range similar to the more toxic Pyro that was traditionally used to create this effect. Caffenol is by far my favorite developer, as I can vary my formulation to create custom results, and can achieve beautiful images with minimal environmental impact.

Movies

Short, undedited or retouched films with ambient sound. Some stories are best told with an image that speaks about motion, an event happening, or the stillness of not much happening during a given period of time. These are all made using iPhones that are hand held and I think of them as the motion picture verison of Lomography.