"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, but art is knowing which ones to keep. " This is the process I use to make my photographic pieces. I know that the first shot is not going to be perfect, and that the first time I try to go in a new direction, the outcome may not be exactly what I want right away. The trial and error in my art speaks to who I am as a person and who I am as an artist. I am willing to do something that may not feel comfortable at the time, but eventually I figure it out and begin to create something meaningful and unusual from a scene that is seeming normal.

                    For each area of photography I am making art that plays on the idea of experimentation. The final result is a product of my life and how I see people, colors, light and space. Each piece represents my personhood: I am reflecting on "what was" and "what is" in my life. In order to render a nostalgic scene, I utilize water, windows, and objects through which I look to construct an altered symbolic reality. There is a tone of longing and yearning for the past in these works that the audience may not be fully aware of, but I do not wish to close the viewer off from forming their own meaning in the photographs. My color palate for the most part contains realistic hues. My photographic work is at its strongest when I am able to use digital tools in a restrained way. I manipulate my images to take viewers on a slow visual journeys , where they need to think about what they are seeing and what they are believing to be there. The audience must look beyond the literal surface entities and travel beneath the realm of the known and familiar.

                     I have been inspired by the work of the late photographer, Vivian Maier. Maier's street photogrpahy  and her utilization of the shapes formed naturally by the environment and new perspectives with which she saw herself and others. Previously I perceived my photography as a mode for me to confront the issues in my world. I now hold this art form to embody my formative years, finding my path toward a more informed and experienced mind. As with Maier and her photographs, each piece that I render is not so simple as it may appear. Artwork is as multifaceted as the artist who made it. Works can't be separated from the artist whose life it stems from.