3D anaglyph photographs
This series portrays distorted and surreal interactions with the natural world, using models/dancers wearing botanically-patterned costumes. Botany eyes is a term used by botanists to describe the ability to “see” or differentiate plants, after careful study. What once looked like a confusing mass now reveals itself as individual species in an ecosystem. Recognizing plants, ecosystems, and their inhabitants is one step towards protecting and preserving. The dancers interact with the landscape in ordered but intuitive ways. Sometimes they blend in, sometimes they stand out as obvious interlopers, our botany eyes spotting them and the plants surrounding them.
Thank you to artist and botanist Sarah Nassif for introducing me to the term botany eyes in her article Plants, A Key to Creativity.
Stock photography has held a fascination for me for some time, with its generic ubiquity and bland cheeriness. The images are meant to be both calculatedly specific and multi-use, so they can be sold many times over. It’s big business, and it’s everywhere.
Stock imagery sites put out briefs or prompts predicting to photographers/videographers what is going to be in demand in the coming next month or year. Out of curiosity I began perusing the prompts, and realized they synthesized certain trends in our culture and aspects of this unusual time.
In responding to the prompts, I took quick and strange images and videos at home or close by, using what I had on hand, using myself and my family as models. I took instructions from the briefs—but in a way that misunderstood the text or took it a bit too far, or too literally. In many of the images I heightened the absurdity of the text, or pulled out some fascinating aspect or phrase that deserved further reflection.
The prompts seemed frivolous during the events of the past few years (i.e. a global pandemic), but still managed to capture the zeitgeist. Occasionally they made me laugh, and I found myself wanting the make work about those in particular.
2020-present
Book of this project available here — with foreword by Sheila Dickinson and book design by Kelly Munson.
“Capture accidents that are inevitable when travelling. Unexpected moments such as a suitcase breaking, getting lost in the city, etc. Important to have realistic expressions that are not too dramatic.”
"Financial Concepts/Visual Metaphors: Monochromatic Simple Object Tabletop
Seamless tabletop background sweep that matches the color of the object (see brand colors).
Potential scenarios: Garden gloves; Wireless headphone; Measuring spoons; Hot sauce bottle; Water bottle; Trendy handbag; Smart watch; Modern desk lamp (light on); Swingline stapler; Sun hat; Shoelaces; Rope; Simple price tag; Single color rubber band ball; Gift box"
“[Company] is looking for images that suggest gritty optimism with mature models. Images that show the challenges and beauty of daily life. Not typical lifestyle imagery, but a journalistic style that tells relatable, compelling stories about real people from all walks of life.”
“Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. With conversations around mental health becoming less stigmatized more people are reflecting upon how they can adapt their homes to improve it. This need for being at one with nature is being reflected in interior photography.”
“Balance is important when working from home, and visuals of that balance— working among children or playing with pets—will be popular. Working remotely can present challenges as well as opportunities. Images or illustrations highlighting a range of experiences are relatable and will be in demand.”
“Self-care and wellness will be popular categories. Visuals of essential oils, diffusers, face masks, journaling, and other self-care routines will be hot topics. Content in neutral and natural tones will be particularly popular for its calming qualities.”
“With masks and face coverings now a part of daily life, customers are asking to see images where the model is clearly smiling under the mask... the eyes and other body language can demonstrate that there is a smile on the model’s face.”
“Combine seasonally-themed objects, like sunglasses, watermelons, and pool floaties to represent summer. Retro and vintage objects will be in demand, including designs and patterns mixed with more modern stylings.”
They're all the newest Post‑It color collections we need you to showcase! Models should be in their 30‑40s, but scenarios can include working from home or organizing around the house.
“Night owls, let’s party. Users are on the hunt for videos and images showcasing all forms of nightlife. Few things depict nightlife like a group of friends having fun and laughing in an urban environment. For true authenticity, shoot your content after hours."
“Many of us are faced with the challenge of fitting exercise into our daily routine. Early morning or evening are often when busy people make time to get in their fitness.”
“Customers will be searching for images of rooms that stand out from the norm, or are uniquely customized.”
“[Company] is looking for images of their plastic products in use where there is a focus on scenes with movement involved. They seek people in motion and products in motion. Additionally, they want to zoom in to the moments where the product is used.”
"Friends and couples using energy outside: [Company] is looking for imagery showing how electricity is intrinsically linked to our lives.
They are looking for images of exciting, warm, and authentic moments showing couples or friends outdoors in a variety of activities using energy…. At all times, a powered device or source of power (e.g., electric, gas, or solar) must be present in your scenes to show how energy enriches their experience.”
“Golf continues to be one of our top selling sport subjects so we’re looking for new, fresh and contemporary ways of illustrating the subject. Often clients want to illustrate golf without people so they can connect to a global audience.”
[Chemical model of the herbicide 2,4-D]
“As the weeks go by with much of the world sheltering in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, views of domestic life and the comforts of home are very much in demand. To give customers a fresh perspective, we'd like to see views taken from the outside, looking in."
“[Company] needs images indicative of high-end hotel pools. They would like to see a little "bling" added to create a fun series of visuals that suggest lounging by the pool. Focus on the elements and parts of people intruding into frame. Keep the light bright and sunny looking, and the water inviting.”
Capture photos of [company's] logo colors shown in clever ways. The more unexpected, quirkier, or smarter, the better. Make sure the shapes you find or create to represent the logo are close together with red on the left and orangey yellow on the right.
“With most of the world still in some state of lockdown, customers want to see examples of haircuts at home. Staying at home for several months means that everyone is due for a haircut and people are having to figure out how to cut hair for themselves, their partners and their kids.”
“It’s been a tough year, take a break and lift your spirits with a little junk food on occasion—you’ve earned it! Images of burgers, fries, milkshakes, and pizzas being delivered or picked up will be popular. Try to shoot fun lifestyle images of people enjoying these meals—customers will be looking for them.”
“As the world begins to reopen, the way we travel around it has changed drastically and visuals representing this new reality will be highly sought after. Images of travelers in elevators, car-sharing services, airplanes, trains, and other forms of travel under COVID-19 restrictions will be very relevant.”
“Fresh Perspective from Overhead:
{Company} needs overhead views that show slice-of-life scenes of adults enjoying leisure activities. All images must be photographed from the top, looking down on the subject, at a medium to close distance.
From outdoor recreation to indoor socializing, capture a slice‑of‑life scene from a unique birds‑eye view."
“Food photography will be popular, especially trendy dishes like vegan meals, avocado smash, etc.”
“{Company} wants to show future generations enjoying food, in this case bread and various bread products.”
“No matter what is going on in the world at large, singles are looking to mingle! Our customers are looking for images that show how people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, and orientations are finding ways of safely and responsibly connecting, communicating, and meeting up with each other to start new romantic relationships.”
“With gyms, health clubs and exercise classes not available these days, people are having to come up with different ways to get in a workout. This includes finding new ways to use furniture and everyday objects around the home as substitutes for their regular exercise equipment.”
“Earth Day may be over but interest in the planet is still strong. Images of scientists researching climate change and renewable energy will be popular.
Powerful visuals of natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and tornadoes will be searched for often.”
"Emotional Moments with Plastic: [Company] is looking for images of plastics both with and without people.
They want to see folks using PET (recycling code 1), PP (recycling code 5), and EPS (recycling code 6) products in everyday life where the emotion of the moment is key."
The great outdoors is a familiar escape, but enjoying time alone in nature carries special significance in the coming days. Images of people walking alone (or with a furry companion) in nearby parks or trails will be searched for often.
“Customers will seek images showcasing those unique touches that make a house a home. Shine the spotlight on your favorite plants, candle holders, teapots, furniture, etc.”
“Polymer Plastics: “[Corporation] would like to showcase their polymer plastics that are used to make the containers for food, beverages, and household chemicals.
We are looking for reportage-style images of people using these plastic items in modern and clean homes, as well as in shopping environments, that convey an authentic, clear, and positive connection between person and product.
Your imagery should be inspiring, engaging, cheerful, positive, and warm to create honest and intimate images of the many different ways we use helpful plastic containers as part of our daily lives at home.”
"With clubs across the world closed due to COVID-19, music lovers around the world have been finding ingenious ways to continue their passion for music, dancing and socializing.... we’d love to see how you’re still getting your groove on during lockdown!"
“{Ad company} is looking for images that capture women 'out and about' living life; everyday moments of movement. Interacting, walking, stretching, dancing, running, hiking. Beautiful, healthy, glowing skin is the focus."
“{Company} is looking for lifestyle imagery of fit, active millennials hydrating during exercise or making beverages at home. Products include shakes, smoothies, sports drinks, and coffee.”
“Art deco set the tone for the 1920s with its visual language of ornate, geometric shapes and decor. Images or illustrations reflecting that style will be popular all year. Gold was a huge presence in the 1920s, and 2020 is proving to be a throwback—so we recommend including gold elements when you can. Props, makeup, and photoshoots in the style of the 1920s will be searched heavily.”
“Loading up on non-perishable food items has become essential. Images of non-labeled, non-perishable items like canned goods or pasta will resonate with customers.”
“The Sublime: We see an increase in searches for intense and intimidating scenes in nature. Waves crashing on cliffs, dunes bathed in sunlight, mountains shrouded in fog—these clips jolt viewers awake with the capacity to transport them elsewhere.”
“More book cover variety: fantasy, botanical, Nordic noir.”
[Company] is looking for images of individuals and groups working in sustainable, green, eco offices and spaces. Capture candid emotions and fold in a subtle accent of green/blue to help bind the set of photography together through either clothing, planting or decor.
In these 3D lenticular images, trees and prairie plants such as Tamarack, Pin Oak, Sumac, and Milkweed interact with a background of floral-patterned fabrics and a figure. The intersection of live and patterned hints at the relationship of the domestic to the natural world, and our desire to connect with nature in a controlled way. Climate change is already shifting habitats and biomes, causing these tree species to eventually adjust and shift biomes as well. The landscape will transform, as will our relationship to it. The three-dimensional layered interaction between myself, the trees, and the floral patterned backgrounds in these images refers to these shifting relationships. (The 3D effect can’t quite be replicated online, but the lenticular printing process renders them 3D when viewed in person).
2019-2022
Spectral is a playful exploration of landscapes and biomes, using the presence of bedsheet ghosts. The colors and patterns of the sheets interlace with the landscape, hinting at the domestic and our relationships with nature. The figures might be ghosts of the biome itself, of plants and trees, or former inhabitants, either animal or human.
Panoramic prints are approximately 3.5’x8’ and hand embellished with gold paint. 3D anaglyph prints are best viewed with red/cyan 3D glasses.
For this project, I photographed unusual pets in their domestic environments—pets such as snakes, hedgehogs, pot-bellied pigs, and ferrets in their homes. The pets are fascinating animals, to be sure, but their relationship with the owners has an element of ambiguity. It is not as clear and established as the companionship and comfort offered by dogs and cats. I explore the elements of these relationships, and the tensions that occur between the apparent wildness of the creature and its tame, domestic surroundings of soft textures and clutter. Conversely, some of the animals almost blend into their domestic surroundings, as if their camouflage has adapted to the new environment. I collaborated with the owners in choosing the photo locations, backgrounds, and scenarios within the home.
2012-2015
Housebroken was published as a book in 2015. More here.
The book is a collection of the photographs from her series of the same name. Introduction written by Tamatha Perlman.
76 pages
Size: 8.5" x 9"
This series of portraits is the result of artist residencies at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in Minnesota and Tallgrass Prairie Artist Residency in Kansas. At each location, I collaborated with ecology researchers to create portraits. I’m curious about their process, their questions, and what drives them to do their research. I also hope to elevate them as noble workers who are quietly and diligently working to tease apart and fathom the interconnected web of the living and non-living landscape, and put a human face on the unapproachable monolithic idea of scientific research. Each researcher chose a location (usually their own research plot or nearby) and a nature-mimicking fabric pattern to incorporate into the scene. The pattern stands in as a domestic element and speaks to our desire to connect to the natural world.
2019-present
Researches red-headed woodpecker populations. (Minnesota)
Researches prairie and oak savanna biomes, and how they are affected by elevated carbon dioxide. (Minnesota)
Researches grassland songbird population ecology. (Kansas)
Researches historic bird population trends in Minnesota as a result of climate change. (Minnesota)
Researches soil microbe communities and soil health. (Kansas)
Researches seed banks and forest biomes, and how climate change affects plant phenology (life cycles and timing of seasonal events). (Minnesota)
Researches conservation of populations of endangered Topeka Shiner. (Kansas)
Researches prairie and savanna biomes. (Minnesota)
Researches how mycorrhizal fungal type influences carbon and nutrient cycling and plant growth response to elevated CO2. (Minnesota)
Researches bison and cattle impacts on grassland soil microbial and ecosystem properties. (Kansas)
Researches red-headed woodpecker populations. (Minnesota)
Researches plant microbiomes, impacts of global change on food webs and plant communities, and plant soil feedbacks. (Minnesota)
Researches wildlife distribution and movement patterns, and education in science. (Minnesota)
Researches how bison grazing relates to wildfire intensity and diversity of savanna species. (Minnesota)
Researches small mammal ecology, host/parasite abundance, disease dynamics in wildlife populations. (Minnesota)
Researches prairie ecology. (Minnesota)
Researches how climate change alters resources for plants in grassland communities. (Kansas)
Researches native fish populations of Kansas.
Researches soil microbial and ecosystem recovery from chronic fertilization. (Kansas)
Researches grassland bird populations during winter and migration. (Kansas)
Researches how to increase biodiversity in recovering grasslands and prairies. (Minnesota)
Due to climate change, the far north is warming quickly and permafrost is changing with uncertain and unsettling results. I photographed around Fairbanks, Alaska, where discontinuous permafrost has long been part of the landscape, but the rising temperatures are altering the land. Certain visual manifestations of this change have captivated me, such as “drunken” forests, houses on unsteady foundations, warped and cracked asphalt roads, and the scientific instruments used to measure these changes.
2018
(For more information about permafrost thaw, read this NY Times article on this topic.)
This series of miniature landscapes incorporate fake fur as the land substrate, and the imagery hearkens back to landscape photographs of the 1800s, in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Photographers surveyed the West in North America and brought back stunning imagery of splendor and bounty. Their images helped propel the destructive and false narrative of Manifest Destiny, and the continued stealing of land from native peoples. The images paradoxically also made the case for protecting some of these spectacular places as National Parks, such as Yellowstone. Imagery of Passenger Pigeons (which were once abundant, now extinct), Bison (which were hunted to the brink of extinction), and logging of forests hint at what was lost.
The materiality of the fake fur also inspired my images—I feel both a sense of attraction and repulsion to the substance. It is meant to be soft and comforting, though the rough acrylic fibers make for a poor imitation of the fur of a dead animal. The resulting series of photographs are clearly a simulation, a farce, with the fake fur as a reference to the lure of potential bounty as well as the resulting devastation.
2012-2017
Animals represent a multitude of different, conflicting meanings to us, whether we are consuming them, housing them as companions, or enclosing wild animals. Are we protectors, exploiters, or compatriots? Zoos serve as a clear manifestation of the state of our relationship to wild animals. They are a manufactured point of contact with the wild, and fulfill some need we have as humans to connect with nature, with wildness, and perhaps to have dominion and control over that wildness. The animals are both revered and constrained by us.
The photographs for this project were taken in 2010 and 2011 at various zoos in the United States and Europe. The habitat of the title is both that of the animal (made by humans) and that of the humans (enhanced by the animals).
Order a Blurb book of this project here: www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2316290
2010-2011
Beastland is an installation of 3D photography. I think of a beastland as an imaginary space where we can embrace our primitive, animal-like natures, and become feral. This idea came about after the birth of my second child. One feeling that kept arising during the past few years of pregnancy, giving birth, nursing, and trying to teach and tame these children, was the sensation of being beastlike—at the core very much an animal. I enjoy this feeling and want to embrace and foster it. The fake furs are a sort of uniform for the beastland, perhaps to transport one there, and a reference to our cultural notions of cavemen. Are the subjects in the images prehistoric cavemen, or has this family gone back to the land after an apocalypse? The project is presented as 3D images in viewers hung from the ceiling, and was created for the Soap Factory 4th Midwest Biennial.
Our experience of nature has been tamed and simplified, and also increasingly mediated by man-made objects that serve to create barriers between ourselves and our experiences of the world. In this series I am exploring our desire to connect with the natural world, to return to wildness, and imagining how that might manifest itself in our lives.
2008-2011
These photographs were taken along the Tisza River in Hungary in 2010 as a way to explore the site of an environmental disaster that occurred ten years before. The boats are constructed out of materials found along the Tisza, and the text is taken from interviews with people along the Tisza.
In January of 2000, the Tisza River, Hungary’s second largest river after the Danube, was contaminated by a massive quantity of cyanide and heavy metals that overflowed from a mining operation just over the border in Romania. The Tisza itself was wiped virtually clean of life—the Environmental Minister of Hungary declared it dead. It was estimated that the river would take 10 to 20 years to bounce back, (if it ever completely bounced back at all—some species may have been rendered extinct by the incident).
Ten years have passed since the incident, and I’ve often thought about this death of the river and wondered what has happened to it since. What happens when a river dies? How were people living nearby affected by it? Can it recover, and how long does it take? This project was a way for me to explore these questions photographically.
All "boats" were constructed from items found along the Tisza River.
2010
For this series I explored my family and my roots in Minnesota and the Dakotas. The subjects and scenes are very familiar to me, but by photographing them I am able to gain a distance and better understand and appreciate the idiosyncrasies of my family life and my history.
2006-2009
