The Beginning…
“Measure”, 2010.
Every hero or villain has their origin story. “Life In The Middle” is mine. I haven’t shown these photos in a long time, so here we go. This body of work I created circa 2009-2011 and it helped me get to where I am today. I started college at New Mexico State University in the Fall of 2005. I went in with the dreams of receiving a BFA in photography and shooting BMX for a living. While not bad aspirations, art school is not the place to show action sports for every project. Luckily I had an amazing professor named David Taylor who helped me think outside the box with my photography. Not going to lie I did struggle at times coming up with projects for my classes. At the time I interpreted my assignments as tasks that needed to be finished. In my mind it was:
A+ on assignments + graduation = degree in photography (which means I could start working on my own projects)
I was so focused on what life would be like out of college that I didn’t consider how lucky I was as a young photographer to focus on my vision for 4 years. That was until this project came into my life.
It all started when my dad passed away in 2009. It was sudden and heart breaking for my family. I felt an instant obligation to be there for my sister and grand parents. This body of work was a way to navigate these feelings on my own personal time. At this time in my college career I started to transition from action sports to editorial. I wanted to work for magazines that people would buy on news stands. After a ton of research I realized that I needed to learn how to light a scene. Taking inspiration from Jeff Wall, David LaChapelle, and Gregory Crewdson my project was born. This project taught me so many things and I am forever grateful for this time in my life. I still use a lot of these lighting set ups every day. Most importantly it taught me how to be vulnerable while creating art.
My artist statement is on a hard drive that doesn’t work, but here’s the reader’s digest version.
“Life In The Middle” is about navigating the world of adulthood. After losing my father I was met with questions about manhood. This project navigates the middle ground between feeling like a kid, but becoming a grown up.
“Wrench”, 2009.
“Room”, 2010.
“Pool”, 2009.
“Shit”, 2010.
“Pillow Fight”, 2010.
“Faucet”, 2009.
“Legs”, 2010.
“Party Of One”, 2010.
If you’ve made it this far thanks a ton. Here’s a link to the rest of the work: