Photographing buildings in ghost towns, landscapes with hidden remnants of the American Old West, and other rural locations, I find details that hint at previous lives and fragments of history. I am fascinated by the mystery of these people, who they were and the impact they had on their world. The absence of people from most of my work touches on the experience of human frailty and the brevity of life, balanced with the beauty of nature and the powerful cycles of time. My ancestors were farmers and homesteaders in the south. Devastated by the Dust Bowl, they moved from Oklahoma to California in 1939. My father was the first generation to be born in California. The settled, family farm way of life is increasingly disappearing from the United States. My work may be rooted in my inclination to rediscover the world of my ancestors and share it with viewers in a time when many of us are losing connection to land, family, and history. I often focus on details, colors and textures that entice the viewer to experience the beauty I find in these empty, rural places. When exploring a new location or researching a ghost town, I often consider how in just a century a town can disappear and be almost entirely forgotten. But while these places are empty, they are not lonely. They are full of history, teeming with stories, and alive with nature reclaiming the imprints that human life has left on the land.
