School
I went to Iowa State University. While I was there I studied abroad in Rome. Before I left my Aunt gave me a 35mm Cannon AE1 so that I could document my experience. Once I got back to Iowa State I dove into the photography program. I took every class I could. I even got a job in the darkroom so I could learn more about the process. I spent all the time I could inside the darkroom. Learning how to develop film and making prints.About
Pinholes
While I was at Iowa State I discovered how much I liked to create pinhole cameras. It happened I went to the library to check out a book on pinhole cameras. I found a book of homemade cameras. Inside there was a 6 sided pinhole camera. It took a sheet of 11" x 14" film cut and wrapped around a drum inside the camera. I loved the idea and got a grant from the school to make the camera. The project went so well that the school actually bought a print and it is hanging in the Memorial Union along with other student work. After that I started making all kinds of pinhole cameras. The one pictured below was made to hold strips of negatives within the tray. That way when you created a photo you could see the film that the picture was made out of. It was a statement about how photographs are just images. By taking a picture of famine or war you are not changing anything. They might move you but until people start doing something about the images that they are seeing nothing will change.Alternative
When I graduated from Iowa State I moved to Kansas City and took a class at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. It was an alternative process class. We did work with polaroid transfers, cyanotype and other alternative processes. I liked taking the different photographs that I shot and manipulating them into other medias. I also really got interested in taking photographs at night. The stark light with deep shadows really peaked my interest. I started to go out at night with my 35mm and my tripod and take photos. I loved capturing broken down objects. Buildings, man-made objects and really anything else that was starting to be worn down or taken over by nature.
