I received my Master of Fine Arts degree from San Jose State University in 2022 and currently reside in the SF Bay Area. For my career, I teach digital and darkroom photography to college students. I’ve had the privilege of traveling and living in a variety of locations including New York, San Francisco, Florence, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Australia, and India.

I currently work almost exclusively in large format, both 4x5 and 8x10. I process all of my own black and white film by hand. I also make all of my darkroom prints, a very time-consuming and tedious process. I have no interest in digital photography for various reasons. To me, working in film is magical and sacred experience which cannot be replicated.

Having grown up in the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee, I’ve both accepted and rejected key elements of my upbringing. The aesthetic and spiritual beauty of the natural world was instilled upon me from a young age. While the rejection of traditional, religious, and conservative social norms has also been a vital aspect to my life and identity. Categorizing the world into categories of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is wildly inaccurate and ultimately detrimental. Therefore, my art practice can neither be defined as moral or immoral, left or right, male or female, or any other reductive binaries. Instead, I seek to create work which transcends words, labels, and subjective ideas. Such work appeals to the subconscious mind in the universal, instinctual, and collective realm of human existence.

Self-portrait, 2025

Artist Statement

My art practice is an essential element of my identity. Being drawn to their physical tangibility, I utilize analog cameras and photographic film as the primary tools to reveal my inner feelings, thoughts, and observations. Rather than being literal, my visual approach is often ethereal, mysterious, sublime, and deeply intimate. 

Whether it be a self-portrait or a landscape, I inject myself into every photograph. As I progress through life, I continue my practice of self-portraiture which serves as both mediation and catharsis. By photographing my physical body in its natural form, with no clothing, cosmetics, or decorations, I capture the timeless nature of my individual spirit. Over time, I am creating a visual archive of my body and emotions, as well as their interaction.

Though the subject matter differs greatly, my approach to photographing the natural world is not dissimilar to that of a self-portrait. Accordingly, I connect deeply with the physical landscape while creating the photograph. It is crucial that I fully embody nature’s essence, inserting my own within. In this way, I am present symbolically in the landscape. Through taking photographs of myself and the natural world, I visually express my inner realm with autonomy and authenticity.

Self-portrait, 2020.