Unfettered experimentation is a core component of my photo practice. Allowing time and space to wander down creative roads that may or may not lead anywhere is usually more productive than not - if even for filing for future ideas or general skill building. There are so many ways to engage with photography and ways to create work and I'm always interested in methods that can visually layer and stack meaning. The combinatorial potential of photography opens up so many paths for expressing ideas, feelings and beauty.

This image is the result of pushing an idea through many iterations and seeing how far I could take it without the original idea breaking down. By processing a detail of an historic map showing soil types in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico - distilling it to it's fine lines - and repeating it over a repeating photograph of a forest fire fueled sunset in Santa Fe - it creates an abstract and layered portrayal of place through time and elements. Because of it's size (44' square), viewing it up close shows the linear textures, details and text in the map and from a distance they blend to create a damask-like pattern. An idea I'm definitely keeping for future development.