“To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.” -Ansel Adams.

​

I strive to show each landscape as I experienced it. The quality of nature and humanity may not be immediate in every image, however, looks can be deceiving. In 2019 there were a recorded 4,972 wildfires in California. As of December 1st, 2020, there have been more than 9,200 fires and over 4,000 acres burned and counting. 

​

This past summer, I spent a week in California and drove from San Francisco to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. As I drove, I noticed an abnormal haze that had been present since I had left the coast. In Yosemite, more than 250 miles away, the haze was still lingering. The wind current pushed the smoke inland from the wildfires burning throughout the western coast. As I drove back to San Francisco later that week, I watched the blazing red sun set behind a wall of smoke above the horizon.

​

In this series, I focus on the threats our Natural Parks face, which have devastating effects on the vitality of these ecosystems. My intention is to communicate the delicate beauty of these landscapes to the viewer, and in some cases, to present what is being lost. I have presented the original exposed film to pair with the artwork on display to show the raw and unedited beauty each location offers. These photographs are created in an alternative process which adds a feeling and depth to the image that I cannot otherwise achieve. These photos act as windows framing small, intimate, and unattainable views that highlight both the beauty and fault in each landscape. My aim is to help bring awareness to the landscapes that we could lose to climate change and human intervention, and in some cases, are already unrecoverable.