“I see beauty everywhere I look except my own reflection” The Abomination
My camera is my way of showing the world how it looks through my eyes. Often through a lens of the duality that I find in everyday life. I gravitate towards imagery that evokes multiple, often contradictory, emotions or ideas or ideals that create a sort of uneasy balance or symmetry. After reaching the limits of what I could create within budgetary constraints I began to branch out with digital compositing so I can take my photography in directions I could never accomplish through photography alone. Being a digital composite artist who is a photographer first gives me the unique ability to photograph the elements of an image exactly as I imagine them in the final piece. Having a background in oil painting I approach even non composite work with the eye of a painter, brushing the image bit by bit to fit my perspective of the world.
I used to paint. I loved painting more than anything and then after having nearly every painting I had ever done and all my supplies stolen, I gave it all up. It was a was a long time after that incident that I eventually found photography and I realized I never lost my desire to paint I just needed a different brush. I was gifted a hand me down camera and my passion for art was reignited. So, I embraced the camera along with the high school nickname Spider, that I seemed unable to escape, and decided to pursue life behind the lens full time. After spending 3 years at a portrait studio I decided to seek a formal education and enrolled at the Art Institute, but that would change after nearly dying in a car accident. My injuries included a severe concussion, blood clots in my lungs numerous fractures and ligament damage and worst of all a shattered femur and knee. With incredibly slim chances of walking again I was resigned to spending life in a wheelchair. After my initial months of recovery and adapting to life in a wheelchair I transferred to Webster University to finish my education while undergoing a three-year journey to restore my ability to walk including 3 complete rebuilds of my leg and countless hours of physical therapy. My year and a half in the wheelchair and additional year plus on crutches gave me the shift I needed to see the world from all new angles and perspectives. My art is a constant evolution of these changing viewpoints. My renewed mobility has also given me the chance to explore the world again but with my renewed artistic vision.
My camera is my way of showing the world how it looks through my eyes. Often through a lens of the duality that I find in everyday life. I gravitate towards imagery that evokes multiple, often contradictory, emotions or ideas or ideals that create a sort of uneasy balance or symmetry. After reaching the limits of what I could create within budgetary constraints I began to branch out with digital compositing so I can take my photography in directions I could never accomplish through photography alone. Being a digital composite artist who is a photographer first gives me the unique ability to photograph the elements of an image exactly as I imagine them in the final piece. Having a background in oil painting I approach even non composite work with the eye of a painter, brushing the image bit by bit to fit my perspective of the world.
I used to paint. I loved painting more than anything and then after having nearly every painting I had ever done and all my supplies stolen, I gave it all up. It was a was a long time after that incident that I eventually found photography and I realized I never lost my desire to paint I just needed a different brush. I was gifted a hand me down camera and my passion for art was reignited. So, I embraced the camera along with the high school nickname Spider, that I seemed unable to escape, and decided to pursue life behind the lens full time. After spending 3 years at a portrait studio I decided to seek a formal education and enrolled at the Art Institute, but that would change after nearly dying in a car accident. My injuries included a severe concussion, blood clots in my lungs numerous fractures and ligament damage and worst of all a shattered femur and knee. With incredibly slim chances of walking again I was resigned to spending life in a wheelchair. After my initial months of recovery and adapting to life in a wheelchair I transferred to Webster University to finish my education while undergoing a three-year journey to restore my ability to walk including 3 complete rebuilds of my leg and countless hours of physical therapy. My year and a half in the wheelchair and additional year plus on crutches gave me the shift I needed to see the world from all new angles and perspectives. My art is a constant evolution of these changing viewpoints. My renewed mobility has also given me the chance to explore the world again but with my renewed artistic vision.