"The art of landscape is fundamentally a way to contemplate the origin." Daniel ChalleI have been photographing in the desert for quite some time now. It has become myhome. Why go out there? What is it that draws so many of us to this space? Of course there really is no answer to these questions, yet those of us who are addicted always return. Perhaps it is a world cleared of attachment, brought down to the bare essentials of experience. We are connected to this, first through our biology and later through our desire.

I once read that "the twilight is the crack between the worlds." When dusk comes, a grayclarity permeates the air. It is a dark that one can see into. As Emmet Gowin once said, it is here that one can "participate in the game of feeling the unknown."

These photographs are a lust for the primitive, for what lies behind personality, for that which stands in the thin shadow of what I know. They are a search to understand beauty and terror, which are inseparable and which are bound to one utter certainty-that they will change. In this I hope to photograph the impossible; to fix the fugitive on film.

For the past few years I have been looking for time. I haven't found it. All that exists is its residue; one can only experience change, not time. In the desert nothing remains the same, even the rocks move. Yet there is a thread that runs throughout and sometimes, film can see this.

In the field I have no idea what I will photograph. I have to wait a long time before any inclination appears and I am continually educated by this requirement for patience. The impulse is not related to the stuff of the world; the route is circuitous for the elusive cannot be looked at directly. Later, in the darkroom where the other half goes to work, I am always baffled by what appears in the tray. They are gifts. Where did this come from? Did I make this? I often fear that when I come upon something good it may be the last.

Education
2003, M.F.A in Photography, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
1997, B.F.A in Photography, High Honors, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York

Teaching Experience
2001-2003, Instructor of Record, Arizona State University: Introduction to Photography
1996-1997, Teaching Assistant, Rochester Institute of Technology: Advertising and Applied Photo

Professional Experience

2002-Present Greater Phoenix 2100 Re-photographic Survey Project, Tempe, AZ
A collaborative pilot project with Mark Klett, and Mathew Alan Lord, beginning in the Spring of 2003, that will investigate change and land use in the Phoenix area through rephotography and "new" photography, on a social, environmental and personal level. Includes research of archival materials, selection of sites to rephotograph and the creation of new sites that will then be rephotographed over a period of time.
2001 -Present Independent Curator
Co-curator of a contemporary landscape exhibition, "The New Sublime", scheduled in October 2003 at the Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University. Artists include: Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann, Richard Lewis, Masao Yamamoto, Michael Light, among others.
2000-Present Third View Project, Tempe, AZ:
A re-photographic survey of the American West led by Mark Klett and Byron
Wolfe, that revisits sites photographed in the 19th and 20th century to document changes in both the natural and human landscape. Responsible for making exhibition quality prints of over 300 negatives, spanning 100 sites and over 100 years of photography in the American West. Position also includes large batch film processing, organization of prints and negatives and research of archival materials in the National Archives and other collections.
2000-Present Freelance Photographer, Phoenix, AZ
Advertising and Editorial Photographer for local and national clients: landscape, architecture, portrait, still life and copy work.
1999-Present Custom Silver, Phoenix, AZ
Chief printer in a self run, black and white lab: Clients include: Mark Klett, Dan Budnik, Dan Vermillion, Craig Smith, Willie Osterman and Emily Matyas
1997-2000 Freelance Photographic Assistant, Rochester, NY & Phoenix, AZ
Professional assistant to commercial and editorial photographers.
1996-1997 Sanchez-Weber Photography, Rochester, NY
Responsible for black and white film processing and exhibition printing.
Exhibition Record
2003
"MFA Thesis Exhibition" Harry Wood Gallery, ASU, solo show
"Classic Images" an Ansel Adams exhibit at the Scottsdale Museum of Art,
Scottsdale, AZ Two prints exhibited in an orientation gallery spanning the history of landscape photography, from the 19th century to the present-my work being an example of contemporary landscape photography.
2002
"Regarding Beauty", Texas Women's University, juried by Deborah Willis
"AZ-GA", Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, group show
"MFA Summer Exhibition", Harry Wood Gallery, ASU, juried by Susan Krane, director of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Third Place Award
"The Alternative Landcape", Intermedia Art Gallery, ASU, group show
2001
"Graduate Student Summer Exhibition", Harry Wood Gallery, ASU, group show
"Landscape", Mesa Public Library, Mesa, AZ
"The 505 Salon" John Sommers Gallery, University of New Mexico, group show
2000
"New Images" Ameen Art Gallery, Thibodeaux, LA, group show
1999
"Finger Lakes Exhibition" Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, juried by Andrea
Norms, Director,
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas and Tony Banaan, Director of George
Eastman House,
International Museum of Photography, Excellence in Photography Award
"A Photographer's Path", The Center at High Falls Gallery, Rochester, NY, group show
1998
"Earthtones," The Teahouse Gallery, Rochester, NY, group show
1997
"In Search of Land" The Little Gallery, R.I.T, solo show
1996
"Light Impressions International Student Exhibition", Rochester, NY, juried show
"Open Skies", SPAS Gallery, R.I.T, juried exhibition on the American West
"Photographs from the Backyard", Little Gallery, R.I.T, solo show

Collections
2000 Northlight Gallery Permanent Collection, ASU
1997 State University, New York at Brockport, Permanent Collection

Works Published
2003 Audubon Magazine, March 2003: photographs in a story about a road-less area in Colorado.
Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine, March 2003: recognized as one of six emerging artists in the Phoenix metropolitan area.