As an artist, I have always been searching for new and unique ways of looking at things.  While progressing through the Spring Arbor University art program, I took three different photography classes.  In one of these classes, we were given an assignment to photograph the same object from twelve distinctive angles or perspectives.  I thoroughly enjoyed this project and managed to photograph a simple park bench while standing up on top of it, crawling underneath it, and walking all around it.  I was fascinated that I was able to take twelve unique images of the same boring object.  In the same manner, I found myself taking interest in capturing attractive images of places and things that have been abandoned, discarded, and forgotten.

 

            I have spent many days over the last four years walking around junk yards, pulling over on the side of the highway to photograph vacant houses while on family road trips, and seeking out houses in the country with yards full of cars and other abandoned items.  By capturing images of these forgotten things, I like to think that I am giving them a second chance at life.  I capture the most life in these discarded objects by photographing them from the most interesting angles, sometimes by capturing close-up images, or sometimes by taking the photos from far away.  Some objects show life in their surroundings, by what is nearby and how it sits in its surroundings.  Other objects hold their life in the small cracks, rust, and bright colors that are found when observing the object up close.  It is the fascinating textures and colors that exist among the rust and decay that simply screams life to me.  Finding the brilliance in the corrosion feels like I am finding the last little spark of life that remains in these forgotten pieces of houses, vehicles, and other abandoned places.