2012-2017

MARRED BY MAN AND TIME

Adding thousands of miles to my odometer every week, I drive down the highway viewing the land through the window of my car. Sometimes I stop to photograph the land next to the highway and at other times I take exploratory side trips into state parks. Whether my eye falls on a cotton field in the early morning light or a view of the mountains in the harsh light of midday, I am compelled to capture what I see: time and/or man changing the land. This marring or marking of the land can be permanent or short lived; although usually with time it is a permanent scouring. People build, scrape and puncture the land, molding it to the shape that suits his/her need. They build electric damns, plow fields and cut trees. While Time uses wind and water to change the course of a river or cut away the land to make valleys and mountains.

By defacing these images I add my own scarring, my own marring. This overlaying of rock surfaces or textures of man-made materials reflects how the land is changed over time. This makes the images look stained, textured by mold, scratched or water damaged. It is about crafting the image to confront the viewer with the impermanence of everything around us. By photographing in multiples my lens can capture more of the land, so that when stitched together the photographs show more of my point of view. By shaping my images to my sight instead of a predetermined final framing I add to the atmosphere and drama of the landscape.