About

Hello, 

I'm sure your thinking ''why does this guy's page look like something out of Internet Explorer circa 1996?'' or ''why am I here'' or even... 

All of these are valid and probably won't be answered but I will try.

 I am a photographer/writer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Original, right?). I shoot mainly with film but occasionally use digital. 

My work has been continually shaped (and obsessed) by the concept of memory; it's meaning and purpose. 

Why do these moments move us? What are we supposed to do with these? How do they shape us?

These questions eventually come back around to the most basic questions about ourselves that we each must ask each other. 

Rarely do we stop and reflect on these questions in today's culture. I don't need to harp on the saturation of images, ideas, and raw data thrown in our faces everyday. Smarter people have pointed this out. 

My work is a personal attempt, mainly through photography and literary narrative, to meditate on these questions through a Christian perspective. My Reformed Christianity and work are intertwined. It is with this presupposition that I give my thoughts and attempted answers.    

I am convinced that what I should be producing (as an artist) are thoughts that are well articulated, individual narrative that speaks outside of it's own circumstances, and the ultimate goal of pointing back to Christ. 

My personality and influences have led me to combine genre and form. It can be called ''New Journalism (or sometimes, I dare say, Gonzo)'', ''Documentary Photography'', and I'm sure a lot other terms that I can sit and make up but the point is that art and personality can't be put into one box but is summarized by the work created. 

''Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof:

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry:

for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?

for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this'' 

- Ecclesiastes 7:8-10