1/29/2018

     This was a project I started in 2017 at the end of the fall season. I had lost interest in the mountains which are typically my favorite subject to shoot, and I felt called elsewhere, to a place of rocks, dirt, and light. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with the desert, the very place I had once considered my least favorite to shoot. I love the story it tells us of erosion, creation, and formation.

     In the desert we get a naked view of Mother Nature, stripped away of all adornment, where we can see the Earth's bones and the very beginning of the processes that formed the planet as we know it. I quickly found myself constantly drawn to its dark places, where light is a stranger. Or to the vast and endless badlands where I experienced feelings and emotions larger than my soul could bear. I've come to have a deep connection with this place, which I now feel was always there, like an old friend, waiting for my return, once I had eyes that could finally see. A place that once seemed dead and stagnant has now come alive before my eyes.

     I've learned that even the stone, mud, trees, and canyons are conscious and aware of every visitor's presence and where they have chosen to live. Everything acting of its own free will while still remaining in perfect harmony. Each object seems to respect the space of its neighbor, creating an area of openness and freedom. It pains me that many of these areas I have spent time in are currently in danger of being forever altered and scarred by man in his quest to rule, own, and profit off everything.

     I started this project in hopes to convey the inherent value that our wilderness has in its original, unaltered state. A value that cannot be replaced once it has been removed. This is "A Secret Affair," I hope you enjoy looking.

Click Here To See: "A Secret Affair"