World Was in the Face of the Beloved
	I have been photographing my wife Stacy, whom I married four years ago this fall. My relationship with her is the closest, kindest and most successful of my life. My photographs of her are a celebration of this accomplishment. This work is about a character who is becoming one within the given landscape. She is someone who is okay with who they are and where they are in the world, while at the same time, she questions her place in the universe. She is my protagonist. Although I do not directly intend to expound on the tenets of Zen Buddhism, there is certainly the suggestion of that kind of spiritual tranquility. I want my photographs to offer a respite from all the courser conundrums of humanity. In short, I want these photographs to speak about ideas of beauty: the beauty of this woman in these attractive clothes; the beauty of the landscape and the figure relating to that space; the beauty of color relationships; and also about the beauty of analogue photography. There are aspects of portraiture in the work, as well as self-portraiture and fictional narrative. I want to blur the line between these different strategies, creating a hybrid of the three. My previous work has involved contemplation and exploration into the nature of human relationships while making narrative photographs. In past series I have examined the connection to family, looked at the bond between couples, addressed ideas of masculinity in a portrait series of men, and more recently combined photographs of seemingly disparate subjects to suggest metaphysical and sexual interactions. The images of my wife continue this investigation. I am enamored of the great Dutch and Italian Renaissance painters, and my work is informed by their strong formalism, attention to light and shadow, and considered color palettes. Some influential painters for me are Caravaggio, Vermeer, Georges de la Tour and Poussin. As far as Twentieth Century painting, I believe that Edward Hopper’s influence is pretty evident. I am also informed by many great photographers. Some of the photographs in this series directly reference earlier photographic works such as Alfred Stieglitz’s portraits of Georgia O’Keefe, Masahisa Fukase’s photographs of his wife Yoko and, of course, Harry Callahan’s photographs of Eleanor. August Sander, Baron Adolph de Mayer, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson inform others. I am challenged by the many possibilities of making photographs of my wife over a long period of time. How will they change as we move forward and age together? My photographs of Stacy are in many ways only in their beginning stages, as is our marriage. I am excited by the promise and potential of both our life together and the ensuing photographs we will make.
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