This ongoing body of work grows out of my daily walks through the woods near my home in Connecticut, where I find fallen and decaying native trees. Many are in visible distress from invasive vines, insect infestation, age, and other environmental forces that threaten their health. I am drawn to their imperfections, irregular patterns, and textures shaped by insects, disease, weather, and time. Through these images, I explore the tension between fragility and resilience, reflecting on nature’s transformative power and the cycles of life, death, and renewal.

To extend the transformations set in motion by natural forces, I use photographic techniques such as motion blur and digital compositing. During long exposures, I intentionally move the camera to create blur, then merge blurred and sharp images into a single composite. The resulting image distorts forms and time, and produces ghostly, luminous effects that feel as though they emanate from within the tree.  I hope the images suggest a liminal space and encourage acceptance of the precarious balance between dualities - presence and absence, permanence and impermanence, past and present.

The prints are made using the cyanotype process, an antique photographic process that uses light-sensitive iron salts to produce deep blue prints. In 1843, Anna Atkins used cyanotype to create scientific botanical studies, publishing the first book illustrated with photographs. My cyanotypes diverge from traditional use of the medium in several ways.  Instead of placing plant specimens directly on paper to emphasize their ideal forms, I begin with digital photographs, manipulate them, and print large-scale negatives for contact printing. Rather than pristine examples, I choose damaged and imperfect subjects, often in motion or transition. I print on irregular and translucent Japanese kozo paper which appears fragile but is remarkably strong and reinforces the themes of vulnerability and endurance embedded in the images.