Description:

I am a large format landscape photographer based in Laramie, Wyoming. My work aims to document the human and geological history of Wyoming's ancient landscapes, with particular emphasis on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests.

All of my photographs are created using a hybrid approach to print making, where images are first captured on 4x5-inch or 8x10-inch sheet film and developed by hand. These film originals are then digitized using a drum scanner, which produces the highest quality analog-to-digital reproductions possible. Finally, the images are printed using a wide format pigment printer. In addition to printing photographs made from both color and black and white negative films, this hybrid approach allows me to print large, archival-quality images captured on color transparency film, for which traditional darkroom printing paper and chemistry are no longer available.

Much of my recent work has focused on photographing the Medicine Bow Mountains using Kodak Aerochrome 1443, a false-color infrared film whose production was ceased in 2009. Originally developed in the mid-Twentieth century for scientific and military applications, Aerochrome film is sensitive to the near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum and replicates color in ways that deviate from our normal human expectation for color in the natural world. Of particular note is the way it depicts chlorophyl-bearing plants, which owing to their high infrared-reflectivity, are rendered in various shades of red and magenta in properly developed images. The film, which requires special handling, filtration, and development, is in extremely short supply in the world and is unlikely to ever be manufactured again. I've devoted my remaining stocks, which currently sit in a freezer for long-term storage and protection, to recording images of the Medicine Bow Mountains at this unique point in the environmental history of the region.