Melted moon, Falmouth Bay. 2021.
Melted moon, Falmouth Bay. 2021.

Horizons

For years I struggled to photograph the large bodies of water in my life. Lakes and oceans have always been my refuge and my solace, and they never fail to attract my lens.

However, time and time again I failed to capture the water; my photos were much too busy, seeing everything while capturing nothing.

Now, I distill the water into its simplest form, making abstract what is too big to capture conventionally.

By panning the camera while holding down its shutter, I create blurred abstracts of the water’s most distinctive qualities: color and texture.

I strip away the busy imperfections, the out-of-place waves and clouds and flotsam. After the pan, only the essence of the subject is left.

The sea is vast, not only in space, but in time as well; my work is a pursuit of that sea, an attempt to find something fundamental in its transient idiosyncrasies.

I cast a wide net across the sea’s fleeting daily faces, from the bright haze of a stale mid-morning to the deep and dusky greens of the gloaming, in hopes that I might create some foundational manifestation of its being.

In these images, I photograph the very human feeling we get when we gaze out at the horizon. Rather than capture it objectively, I strip my subject of its time and space, like a studio portrait or a simple line drawing.

By siphoning the essence of that rich and varied vastness, by veiling the dizzying busyness of context, I unveil the water.

Melted moon, Rosemullion. 2021.
Melted moon, Rosemullion. 2021.
Sweetwater, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
Sweetwater, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
North Atlantic, facing east. 2021.
North Atlantic, facing east. 2021.
Icewater fire, I, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Icewater fire, I, Lake Michigan. 2019.
North Atlantic, facing west. 2021.
North Atlantic, facing west. 2021.
Moonglow, Lake Michigan. 2021.
Moonglow, Lake Michigan. 2021.
Wave, mist, Bream Cove. 2021.
Wave, mist, Bream Cove. 2021.
Daybreak, Door. 2020.
Daybreak, Door. 2020.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2021.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2021.
Rainshadow, Door. 2020.
Rainshadow, Door. 2020.
Sunset, looking down, Lake Michigan. 2018.
Sunset, looking down, Lake Michigan. 2018.
Gloaming, Door. 2021.
Gloaming, Door. 2021.
North Atlantic, facing south. 2021.
North Atlantic, facing south. 2021.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2019.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2019.
Moonglow, ebb tide, Falmouth Bay. 2021.
Moonglow, ebb tide, Falmouth Bay. 2021.
Icewater fire, III, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Icewater fire, III, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Melted moon, Lake Michigan. 2021.
Melted moon, Lake Michigan. 2021.
Glasswater, Door. 2020.
Glasswater, Door. 2020.
Smokewater, Door. 2020.
Smokewater, Door. 2020.
Faraway, Pennance Point. 2021.
Faraway, Pennance Point. 2021.
Last light over the Roseland. 2020.
Last light over the Roseland. 2020.
Gloaming, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
Gloaming, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
Icewater fire, IX, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Icewater fire, IX, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Northward, Door. 2021.
Northward, Door. 2021.
Mist, water, Pennance Point. 2020.
Mist, water, Pennance Point. 2020.
Dark water, North Atlantic. 2020.
Dark water, North Atlantic. 2020.
Strait, Door. 2020.
Strait, Door. 2020.
Sunbreak, Door. 2020.
Sunbreak, Door. 2020.
Waterline, Lake Michigan. 2020.
Waterline, Lake Michigan. 2020.
North Atlantic, facing east. 2021.
North Atlantic, facing east. 2021.
North Atlantic, Pennance Point. 2021.
North Atlantic, Pennance Point. 2021.
Afterglow, Rosemullion. 2020.
Afterglow, Rosemullion. 2020.
Magenta, Boyers Bluff. 2020.
Magenta, Boyers Bluff. 2020.
Cormorant II, Pendennis Point. 2019.
Cormorant II, Pendennis Point. 2019.
Waterlines, Maenporth. 2020.
Waterlines, Maenporth. 2020.
Dark water, North Atlantic. 2020.
Dark water, North Atlantic. 2020.
Icewater fire, IV, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Icewater fire, IV, Lake Michigan. 2019.
Lake Michigan. 2018.
Lake Michigan. 2018.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2020.
Tideline, Gyllyngvase. 2020.
Sunset, looking east, Lake Michigan. 2018.
Sunset, looking east, Lake Michigan. 2018.
Blackberries, Coast Path. 2020.
Blackberries, Coast Path. 2020.
Tideline, Dawn, Gyllyngvase. 2020.
Tideline, Dawn, Gyllyngvase. 2020.
Horizon line, from Dawlish. 2021.
Horizon line, from Dawlish. 2021.
Sweetwater, Bream Cove. 2020.
Sweetwater, Bream Cove. 2020.
Icewater, Lake Michigan. 2022.
Icewater, Lake Michigan. 2022.
Interstellar interstate, North Atlantic. 2021.
Interstellar interstate, North Atlantic. 2021.
Overcast, mostly, Door. 2021.
Overcast, mostly, Door. 2021.
Glasswater, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
Glasswater, Keweenaw Peninsula. 2020.
Shipping lane, North Atlantic. 2020.
Shipping lane, North Atlantic. 2020.