river statement

My photographs explore the relationship between the Mohawk River, the Hudson River, the Erie Canal and the cities in the Capital Region of New York State. I find the convergence of nature and humanity enthralling, specifically the intersection of engineering, industry, land and water. This confluence can be harmonious, subtle, disastrous or even violent. These spaces beg questions. What balance is reached between public and private sue and how does that use impact the areas themselves? How does the debris of previous and current use integrate itself into the natural beauty of the water? More succinctly, what balance is achieved between the physicality of the urban setting and the inherent naturalness contained in the waters? I think photography is an extremely useful tool to expose these relationships and interactions, and I use these questions as a framework for my photography. While studying civil engineering early in my education, I gained an appreciation for the products of our mechanical age. It seems that the grander the scale the more amazing the human intrusion. The idea of bridges, canals, buildings, or even highways taming and humanizing a landscape is still, even with these things all around us, hard to fathom. In pursuit of domestication, we have had to produce infrastructure of increasing complexity. As my career choice swung towards art and photography, I found the quest to expose these relationships paramount in my artistic work. Photographs are 22x44 archival inkjet prints.