Daily Observances (detail) 2011
2011-16
Multiple Photographs
24"x 36" and 40"x 50"
Over the summer of 2011 I began a series I call "Daily Observances" in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
This project involved a short walk to the bay each morning and the making of a photograph of the bay/sky at exactly 7:00 AM with precisely the same composition. When the wind was right I could hear the 7 o'clock church bells sound, and would make the exposure at that moment. I continued the process for a total of 78 days over that summer. In 2012 I continued the project, this time for 100 days.
There was a rhythm, repetition and discipline to the process that made it feel like a daily meditation or secular prayer.
The piece is shown as a grid of photographic images in various configurations. The horizon lines are precisely aligned and the piece becomes a visual journal of weather, light, color and the incremental movement in and out of the tides on the expanse of flats. Coastal environments experience remarkable changes in atmospherics from day to day and over a period of weeks the light reveals even its seasonal characteristics. The utter simplicity of the imagery contrasts with its remarkable density of information. It is a piece I intend to continue to work on over the next several years.
This project involved a short walk to the bay each morning and the making of a photograph of the bay/sky at exactly 7:00 AM with precisely the same composition. When the wind was right I could hear the 7 o'clock church bells sound, and would make the exposure at that moment. I continued the process for a total of 78 days over that summer. In 2012 I continued the project, this time for 100 days.
There was a rhythm, repetition and discipline to the process that made it feel like a daily meditation or secular prayer.
The piece is shown as a grid of photographic images in various configurations. The horizon lines are precisely aligned and the piece becomes a visual journal of weather, light, color and the incremental movement in and out of the tides on the expanse of flats. Coastal environments experience remarkable changes in atmospherics from day to day and over a period of weeks the light reveals even its seasonal characteristics. The utter simplicity of the imagery contrasts with its remarkable density of information. It is a piece I intend to continue to work on over the next several years.