Untitled

What is it like living in an industrial part of town? I often find that it is boring, uneventful, and when photographing my first instinct is to get as far away from home as possible. So for this project I chose to do the exact opposite in an attempt to gain a different perspective with the help of my 6-year-old niece, Penelope, who is also growing up in this area. I photographed this project on film and printed in the darkroom, to keep the process very hands-on and less reliant on technology, something I think helped me step more into the mind of a child and stay more involved in the act of creation. I collaborated with Penelope throughout the entire process, and most notably when the final prints were created I asked her to name each photo and tell me a story about it. I chose to include bit and pieces of her words from throughout the process as a part of the final pieces because they speak to how much the children in our lives can see and envision that we might not. I can safely say that in the 22 years of my life I have never compared a power line to a cat and now, that is all I can ever see. So if you ever need help finding the beauty in something, just ask a 6-year-old.