Western Respite

I created this series of landscape work during my time at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts Artist Residency in Saratoga, Wyoming spanning the month of October in 2015. Prior to my arrival at Brush Creek, my photographs had mainly consisted of portraits and visual narratives; never had I focused solely on landscapes. So my proposal to this residency entailed creating a visually compelling body of landscape work that is as equally enticing as portraits or documentary narratives. I hoped to fully explore and visually examine the Brush Creek terrain through photographic trial and error to create a series of unique landscape photographs. My method for landscapes is finding distinct scenes that stray from the everyday that are typically seen throughout photography. I look for the abstract within nature and the beauty within minimalism. I am instinctively drawn to the majestic and overwhelming elements that can exist within a landscape and determining how to emphasize such majesty through my images. While exploring Brush Creek’s environment, I found myself drawn to the dramatic Wyoming light. I was intrigued by how it highlighted certain forms while hiding others, emphasizing the dimensionality of what it exposed while removing it from what the shadows concealed. With turbulent weather came sensational skies that only intensified the scenes I was photographing. Wyoming’s fall colors mixed with its bold skies has proved a perfect place to help my landscape photography evolve beyond what I could have hoped for.