landscapes

Statement:

A well-traveled hike is like visiting old friends. Greeting the trailhead with a handshake, you enter the familiar woods. A part of your insides tips a hat to the twisted stump and silently flowing swamp as you pass along your way. Of our many daily acquaintances, only a few become good friends through the span of time as we discover their individual personalities and characteristics. This same relationship holds true with our environments. We grow close to terrain that opens itself to us and to which we have opened ourselves.

These photographs represent a collection of memories that I bring back from old friends. I have traveled their terrain many times. Through these photographs one can peek into a close relationship, much in the same way a person might open another's diary. My vision as the photographer changes when faced with familiarity and can be seen here. Images of the obvious fall to the side and my eye is instead attracted to the more abstract visual qualities that speak of the subject's subtle personality traits. As opposed to being captured by the entire forest, I may instead feel the attraction of one tree's peeling bark.

Medium: 4x5 BW film, silver gelatin prints