I am an environmental landscape photographer, focusing on the human relationship with the natural world. My photographs direct the viewer to once natural sites, questioning the way civilization uses the land.
For the past few years, I have been working on the project The Forest. Once prairie, this land was influenced by the landscape architect and activist Jens Jensen in the early 19th century. Since then the river that runs through this area had been drained and the land was left alone, becoming a beautifully tangled forest. Presently, the Lake County Forest Preserve has allowed the Lake Bluff Open Lands Association to manage this land and turn it into its 19th century prairie state. A conflict lies here, should people restore land to what it once was or do we let the land be what it naturally becomes on its own? Having grown up next to these woods, I hold a great connection to this land.
Recently, I finished the project Now and Real. Photographing in a topographic style, the project captures the everyday urban and rural relationship humans have with the natural world. It observes the life of natural animate and inanimate beings among contemporary human influenced areas.
Native to Illinois, I received my BFA from Columbia College of Chicago in 2008 and have exhibited work in many group exhibitions. I am now concentrating on working with wildlife and land conservation organizations to contribute to the understanding of the current environmental state.