I don’t know why, but I had not even considered taking Photography as a studio art major. However, as part of my internship in the studio art department at Dartmouth, I was assigned as the teaching assistant for a couple of classes I had never actually taken, which was an extra special opportunity. One such course was Photography I, conducted in analog format. I learned so much from the professor, my students and their work, the dialogue of feedback, and especially our Photography Fellow Hannah Nelson (who took me under her wing and became my very dedicated and caring mentor). 

I immersed myself and soon was enamored with film photography, an expression of hands-on precision and “happy accidents” in tandem. I love shooting photographs, toting around my camera on excursions. The lens reminds me to notice and celebrate nuance. I relearn familiar places and everyday encounters or get to know new landscapes by taking the time and invoking the sensitivity to create images from them. I love the dark room, a sanctuary where nothing else seems to exist. I love the intensity of printing - the patience it requires and the willingness to go back and try again, to adjust, experiment, and compare. In this process, you must constantly make decisions, often minute ones - which make all the difference. I love the unpredictability that is so common in film photography (at least as an amateur). Because results are not immediate, there is an inherent quality of unknown which holds corresponding potential for delight. Yes, sometimes I am disappointed when my film does not reveal what I had attempted to capture, but those “failures” are more than worth it when I am gifted with unexpected results I would not have achieved had I been trying to - such that film photographs are imbued with the specificity of their own moments.

When I lived in Providence I used the wonderful AS220 community dark room to continue processing film and printing photos. Since leaving Providence, I have not developed any of my work, so I currently have a large and increasing backlog of film! But I continue to shoot photos - an activity that in and of itself brings me great joy. I very much look forward to revisiting these images the next time I have access to a dark room, with the additional surprise cast by distance in time. 

I decided to include Photography in Other Projects because my photographic explorations are distinct from my abstract, multimedia, and text-based work described by my artist statement. However, I do take my photography seriously and approach it as an artist. Many of my photographs also deal with relationships, although I have tended to lean more into relationships with my surroundings than with people. When I set out on “photo walks,” I navigate slowly and deliberately. I participate at various scales, perspectives, and angles - perhaps crouching down in the grass or standing up on rocks - to activate keener awareness of details I’d otherwise easily miss. Conditions of weather, lighting, and time of day shape the emotional narrative of a landscape I convey. In capturing such moments, I get to know the environment more directly and develop context within that place and my personal connection to it. I am interested in the feeling of home, and in finding that feeling - which ties into themes of identity I examine in the rest of my studio practice.