In 2014, I was backpacking the Olympic Coast with my fiancée. It is an incredible place to travel on foot: forests opening onto wild beaches, sea stacks rising offshore, eagles overhead, and miles of sand and rock along the edge of the Pacific.
One evening after sunset, I found a huge buoy washed up on the beach. It immediately felt like something I could work with. I set up the camera and began experimenting with the shape of the buoy, the human form, and the movement of the ocean behind me.
The slower exposure softened the waves while the buoy and body remained more still. I loved the simplicity of it: two forms leaning together at the edge of a huge ocean. The photograph became Salt and Shadow.
A few years later, I entered it in LightBox Photographic Gallery’s The Photographic Nude 2017 exhibition in Astoria, Oregon. The show was juried by Kim Weston and included photographers from around the country and beyond.
To my surprise, Salt and Shadow received the Juror’s Award.
That meant a lot to me. For years, much of my nude photography had been something I created quietly and somewhat privately. Having one of those photographs selected for a public exhibition was already meaningful. Having it recognized with the top juror’s award felt like another step toward believing that this work really did have a place in the world.
View The Photographic Nude 2017 exhibition →
The Olympic Coast is a place of beauty and wonder. Wild and rugged, full of surprises.
