Artist Statement

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“At Six” was created to document the growth and changes that occurred in Jaynie while watching her grow up from the age of three when I first started photographing her, to a six year-old little girl. It is easy to be oblivious to the changes that take place in your child without visual references to look back on. Shooting this series with a large format film camera, I had to put in a lot more thought with my idea since I had minimal opportunities to capture the concepts I wanted to bring to life.

                  I started photographing Jaynie when she was about three years old, and I have taken thousands of photos of her and used her as muse for several photo assignments during my photography career. I consider myself very lucky that I have a child that is willing to cooperate and allow me to document her growth. This series particularly showcases how much Jaynie has matured and grown over the course of the last three years from a baby into a very mature little girl.

                  Those who are close to me, or know me through classes at school, know that I gravitate towards using Jaynie as a muse for projects. At first, this reason was because she was easily accessible since she lived with me and I didn’t have to depend on others to help me with my assignments. This basic reason developed into something much more, and I put myself on a mission to document the many stages of her life in various scenarios and with different photographic media. Every time I snap a portrait of Jaynie, I feel like I am capturing a moment in time neither one of us will ever get back, and along the way, I get to spend extra one-on-one time with her.

                  I want to set a goal for myself to do a project similar to this series every year to document Jaynie’s changes and growth. It is very important to me that my work is meaningful and that it clearly comes across to the viewer. Sally Mann summed up my feelings behind this series and my passion for creating photographs.  “Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future.”