The things that follow us around

This is a mini series using the 3x5 large format camera in 2021

There is something ethereal about the large format camera’s ability to alter our field of view. Something of sharp, real-world focus graduating into something that feels as if your eyes are unable to show you the truth… the shadows being the only things left in the frame. I chose to use the large format camera for this body of work because of this unique quality. I knew that it would give the work the intangible visuals that it needed to convey the lingering unknown.

The Things That Follow Us Around

Call them demons, spirits, fiends or friends, what you call them is of no consequence. They follow us closely, hiding in the shadows and just out of sight, until the moments we indeed need to face them. ‘The Things That Follow Us Around’ is a body of work that represents the emotional shadows and thoughts that dictate our very being. We must grow to acknowledge what constantly haunts us deep within, and learn to accept and live with them in order to be able to move past and prosper. Only then will we be unafraid of what lurks in the shadows.

Each image depicts a part of the process of living with our shadows. Beginning at just out of view, to knowing it’s there, facing what it is, accepting it and finally, learning to live with it.

Always Around

Our shadows follow at our feet. Sometimes they stand behind us, and sometimes they lead the way. In the end, they are always around.

I know you’re there

Avoiding our shadows, never looking them in the eye, will never make them go away. Subconsciously, we know this.

Yes, I see you

Although messy, facing our shadows head on is the only way we can begin to move past them. You cannot move past the things in front of you if you ignore their existence.