I have always been captivated by how things age. As a photographer, I have been looking through the lens of my cameras, attempting to capture the dark and incessant beauty that the passage of time etches on my personal landscape—objects, children, and the wilderness that surrounds me.

Being a photographer has enriched my experiences as a mother, educator, and fine art printer. Carefully looking at things and paying attention to detail is like listening to the nuanced differences in a child’s cry, or hearing what my students’ are truly saying. Seeing, listening, presence in the moment is my quiet study of the world.

Camera in hand, or view finder pressed tightly to my eye, textures and shapes call to me in a strong, yet quiet way to be preserved in a manner that evokes reverence for how things once were, and how they are now. My images reveal the essence of a place by capturing the striations left behind, whether in my backyard, a windswept ruin, or in an overgrown forest.

The work begins with a quiet attention to form and texture that can only be fully realized in the rich, dark clarity of the finished print. I consider my craft as a printer to be one of my greatest strengths as an artist. It’s a way of putting my own mark on these places and things— a way of carving my initials in the tree. I was here.