I photograph...

...because it is summer time and it is a joy to have the camera in my hands.

I didn't photograph...

...in this case, but I did make the diptychs. These images are some of my favorites... but I used most of the landscapes I received from my collaborators....

A vast and endless terrain of networks, I was curious about what collaboration with the limitless Internet would entail. I implored "digital individuals" to upload what they thought were examples of a good photograph and invite all of their contacts to do the same. I hoped to expand the scope of my search in order to achieve a broad collection of images from artists and non-artists alike. All they knew was what they had, their opinion on a quality photograph.

The majority of images submitted were landscape oriented, revealing that my "Internet photographers "viewed their most exemplary images as describing their surroundings. As I viewed the images all together, ties were formed between pictures that would never be formed previously, since most of the photographers are essentially impersonal strangers to one another. Yet throughout all the complexity of navigating the mass of images submitted and the relationships they formed, the images themselves started to become ironically symbolic of my collaboration:

Nature is what we--
Yet have no art to--
So impotent Our Wisdom--
To her Simplicity
--Emily Dickenson

Kelsey Venderventer/Jennifer Gerberding

Zachary Perez/Eleanor Clemmons

Danielle Peterson

Hannah Britton/Marianne Jaeger

Jennifer Gerberding/Amanda Rountree

Carissa Whisenhunt/Zachary Perez

Jane Pittluck/Adam Espinoza

Emily Marston/Molly Perry

Danielle Peterson/Jennifer Gerberding

Danielle Peterson/Carissa Whisenhunt

I photograph...

...because I want to remember time spent with people as full of life and movement.

I photograph...

...because something beautiful happens when you mix the old with the new, whether that is a modern girl in old clothing, or antiquities in a modern world.

I photograph...

...because there is:

No time for smelling the sun.
Too quick running through the trees.
To notice the breeze. Then:
Stop.
Breath.
Listen.
It only takes one second.
Beauty.

And it is also a continuation of this.