Artist Statement

I take photographs with my with eyes and mind wide open, and let the camera capture what my heart and soul is feeling. I am a portrait photographer at heart, and try to reveal my subjects identity in their portrait. Growing up as an only child I spent many days photographing the people in my community with my Canon snapshot. I was always obsessed with the smallest things, which is reflected in my photographs. The lines on each person’s face are not blurred or taken away, but rather are sharpened to let each detail tell a piece of their history. I will also take images of details peripheral to the actual shoot that won’t make the final cut, but will help me capture and recall the feeling of the event to help me compose the final edit. To add emphasis to the details I capture, I am strongly inclined to shoot against a simple background and let the subject speak through the photograph without flounce or over-editing.
My subjects are never predetermined by discourse, but rather are created in the moment of pressing the shutter release. This act, so short in time, captures so much emotion and can create an accurate depiction, yet is not the truth. As Richard Avedon said, “A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he's being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he's wearing or how he looks. He's implicated in what's happening, and he has a certain real power over the result.”
Despite my attempts to avoid constraining my subject matter, I am inclined to photograph individuals who express themselves through social camouflage, through the manner they present themselves to others. Their act of changing even the simplest detail, reflects their mental process, which is their own, yet universal in everyone. This is something simple that people know, but that they don't actually think is that important until they've seen it in a photograph.
The drought effecting Kenya is devastating, the lack of sanitary water or no water at all results in many illnesses and deaths. Many young girls miss school to walk miles and miles to retrieve water, or they get married off as young as eight in exchange for cattle. I went to Kenya to document a well being dug. The well was completed, and can now service 30,000 people with clean drinking water. It is amazing to see how water affects the local people’s pursuit of individuality and their ability to express themselves. Having a nearby source of clean drinking water dramatically expands their opportunities to pursue their individual goals and dreams because so much less time and energy is spent gathering water. With water, a person can now explore their identity: their hobbies, interests, sexuality and emotions. My project takes you on a journey through rural Kenya from its people’s perspective, and demonstrates the importance water has on their quality of life. Through portraiture, the viewer can reflect on self-representation through dress, choice of jewelry, and each person’s interaction with the camera. I did not want to limit the invitation to see the people as people, by striping the individuals of their culture, but rather show the culture that encompasses their individuality. My aim in this work is to unmask the constraints of separation between cultural groups and bring individuals together.