I grew up in Rogers, Arkansas, a small town in the northwest part of the state. It borders Oklahoma and Missouri. It is in the South, but it is not considered “Southern,” which makes it a purgatory between the south, the mid-west, and southwest.
When I was young, it was not considered a destination. That is changing. It's where I spent the first eighteen years of my life, and no matter how many places I have lived, I always feel at home when I return.
When I was young we didn't do much traveling, except to eastern Arkansas. All my grandparents lived in the Delta on the other side of the state, near the Mississippi River. Visually and culturally, the Delta of Arkansas was completely different from the western side of the state.
Fields as far as you could see of rice, corn, soybeans and grain - the landscape was vast, and felt pure. There, towns seemed like they were stuck in time. It was only after leaving home, traveling around this country, and then other countries, that I became fascinated with the differences between places--how they look and how they feel.
When I first began to take photos I was drawn to settings that represented the tone of my environment. I loved abandoned buildings or depressed towns with neglected signage. I doubt I was aware that what interested me, as I look back at the grainy photos I took at that time, was my own impermanence as a person, and at the same time, of the dwindling permanence of places that would exist after I was be gone.
I studied Art History in college, and I spent a year in Florence. Until then never been out of the country. I was introduced to Italian Neo-Realism cinema and I took my first photography/darkroom class. I became intrigued with filmmaking, and went to film school. But in retrospect, I think my interest in movies likely came out of my love of images--much more than the story that was being told. The emotion I experience when watching a film comes almost entirely from its imagery, light, and music. To me, what is being said is often not as significant.
My default mode of image making is to go on any kind of car trip. I love to drive long distances. I can lose myself for days documenting places and spaces that seem to be frozen in time. I love the desert, the mountains, the vast landscape of the southwest. I love the countrysides. I love urban decay. I love rural decay. As much as I am fascinated by the future, and the unfathomable trajectories of technology, I will always be drawn to what is left behind.
These days I find myself photographing Los Angeles, where I've lived for the last 15 years. I live on the westside, near the beach, and I love being connected to the water. Los Angeles is changing quickly, and I see it mostly near Venice and Santa Monica, where I live. It’s funny because the photos that will never change much are the ones of the water, but what is happening on land is changing fast. Right now, I like documenting both of those things.