As a landscape photographer in the smallest state in the US, I return to the same places to photograph again and again. Over the years, I have noticed countless changes in the environment. I “fall in love” with the trees and plants I see, looking forward to my next visit, to watching them grow. As time has passed, many of these trees have met their end. Losing a beloved tree is akin to losing a friend, someone you’ve known for years who has watched you grow up, and you them. “The Fallen” is an attempt to express the respect and reverence I feel for these trees. Without them, there would be no life as we know it on this planet. And yet all too often, they go unnoticed and uncared for. I challenge you, the viewer, to expand your awareness of the world around you, to pay attention to other forms of life besides humanity. For we are all interconnected, and without one there would not be the other.

I feel a need to experience firsthand, and to document, this interconnectedness of life in the universe. That need, and a love for capturing quiet and beautiful moments, drives me to continue to make photographs. I am influenced as well by other photographers and artists who also create beautiful work. I feel a brotherhood with these creative minds and their desire to make art in good times and bad. I am especially drawn to works that touch upon the natural world, to the beauty of this planet. I think that the seeds for this project were planted in my heart and mind naturally, as I witnessed and photographed the changes I saw in the places I visit. However, it took a friend to water those seeds into the idea that it is today. As I was recounting my experience of love and loss with the trees I photographed, the simple suggestion of “Why not turn that into a project?” spurred me into gathering together the photos I already had, as well as continuing to create more, to photograph as much as possible and to notice even more the natural environment. This is a project years in the making, going back as far as 2019 when I recorded for the first time the loss of a dearly loved tree.