ReciprocAL

The surface of our planet is never visually fixed. Changes in the Earth’s rotation and atmosphere determine how light reflects off of surfaces and travels through media. The white gypsum sand dunes of the American Southwest have a particularly dramatic reaction to these changes. The dune’s ability to reflect great amounts of light allow for uncommon relationships between land and sky at twilight. In some instances the earth and sky adopt similar values, appearing to meld into one surface through a blended horizon. It’s also during this time that the dunes adopt subtle color from the twilight sky’s pastel tones. These surreal visual illusions combine with an eerie silence to create a pleasantly destabilizing sense of place.

The effect this visual dynamism and lack of ambient sound have on a solitary great ape’s mind is the primary influence over the photographs captured in Reciprocal. Over 5 days I allowed this ephemeral strangeness to influence and ultimately overwhelm my sense of place in a meditative, yet activated awareness of the quickly changing environment. The resulting images are a combined study and celebration of the relationship between the earth’s surface and the light it reflects.