/work/photos/buildings

Series: 2006-2007

Photographing rooftops has been a hobby of mine for many years. An avid digital artist in my teens, my photos of church-tops and crumbling buildings played central roles in the compositions of much of my work. It was not until the winter of my twenty-third year, an antique medium-format camera in hand, that I developed an absolute passion for the subject.

It was the way the buildings looked as I gazed through my viewfinder, playing with the vibrancy of our sunsets, the richness of our summers, even the austere dullness of our grey winters. Living on my own for the first time and really starting to regard Seattle as my home, these monoliths began to feel like kin, good friends- integral parts of my daily walks to and from work. In this way, the photographs are meant to be seen as intimate portraits.

These buildings, at once solitary and full of life, seem to play with and against each other: three skyscrapers fall playfully against one another; an isolated wall dares to stand alone; a telephone pole bisects a brick building, sagging lines teasing its rooftop; four more in four corners, never to embrace; another still, reflects on the day as the sun plays its final notes on a bright pink sky.

As I continue developing as an artist, the buildings remind me that things are always looking up.