Explore. Connect. Imagine.

Explore. I am fascinated by how bees and flowers talk to each other. How a bird experiences the water it is standing in. The common ground between a damselfly and myself. In photography, I am used to establishing intimacy through eye-contact. In my latest project, I found myself asking, how does one find the soul of a lichen? How do I convey the beauty and complexity of an organism that is a symbiosis of fungus, alga and more? My answer is that I am not photographing a category - but an individual in this exact moment in time. Seeing each lichen as an individual (well collective individual), allows me to connect and find my lichen-ness in a time scale that is far from my normal. I don’t just see but behold the lichen, take it in. My experience of myself and the world changes. I have become lichenized.

Connect. My work is a collaboration between the different parts of myself: shaman, artist, scientist. The scientist in me loves to be immersed in the details of biology: the myriad ways lichens reproduce, the migratory patterns of birds, the way bees defend their floral territory. The artist loves the textural patterns of lichen, the way a goose’s feathers sound when they fly overhead, the endless variety of shapes of different kinds of bees. The shaman grounds deeply in the energetic web that connects lichen to bird to bee to me. Photography may seem like a strange choice of medium to bring all of these selves together but it works! With each new project I have to learn how to see all over again. With bees my world is small and floral, buzzing quickly from place to place. Birds have me scanning the skies, tree tops or bodies of water in the early morning. Lichen taught me to stop and experience the microscopic world that exists in slow perfection. When I approach a new subject, I start with tons of research: I find websites, read books and articles, and take classes. I may also learn technical aspects of my craft: lighting, printing, white balance. After the technical learning and research, I get to know my subjects by searching them out and spending time with them. I go to the same places for days or weeks or months. Finally I find the individuals that want to connect with me.
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Imagine. The photograph may be the final stage or another starting point for combining images together and/ or with other mediums. I often learn new techniques that are suggested by the subject matter: cyanotype and textile arts for a piece about bees and memory, lumen print for mysterious botanical landscapes, focus-stacking and lighting for lichen. Shape-shifting has always been one of my favorite shamanic tools where I get to experience what is it to be something else. I can imagine myself a vulture soaring on a thermal, a bee heavy with pollen heading back to the hive or a lichen photosynthesizing in the sun. Stepping out of my human skin allows me access to all forms of consciousness with whom we share this planet. As a shaman, I know there is no part of this world that is not connected to every other part. As an artist, I am creating a world where I can exist.