Fine Art nominee

A selection of my ongoing series of "floating busts," each an interpretation of flamboyant characters and historical figures. Photographed with a medium format digital Hasselblad, and made with simplistic materials like folded paper, bodypaint and crystals. Medusa and Lucy modeled by Marlo Meekins, Merlin modeled by Mathu Andersen, Du Barry modeled by Dita Von Teese, and Taxidermy modeled by drag performer Sharon Needles.

I like to say that I "paint with my camera," I approach photography from an illustrators perspective. Although my technique is more modern than my aesthetic, I deem to create a fantastical scene that is completely photographic. I combine simple materials like folded paper & body paint with meticulous placement to help give an "un-realistic" structure to the characters and stories I create.

My photographic mantra has always been to present an ambiguous world, unclassifiable in time with a celebration of visual androgyny. My "floating busts" are interpretations of flamboyant characters and historical figures that speak to me, whereas other pieces my work tell a full symbolic storyline (usually a dramatization of events happening in my own personal life). If I can propel the viewer into a daydream... then I feel accomplished.

I grew up in Reno, moved to San Francisco to attend AAU for photography, then moved to Los Angeles, which is where I currently live and work.