Photographed by Edward Steichen, Charlie Chaplin is emblematic of one history of The West. As a motion picture star, he typified why people desired to move westward--to fulfill the biggest of dreams.

Edward S. Curtis photographed Native Americans throughout the United States. Unlike the portrait of Charlie Chaplin, Curtis' portraits of Native Americans capture a disappearing culture through nearly the exact medium which established Charlie Chaplin as a new cultural figure.

In 2009, I collected pieces of charcoal from a beach fire while walking along the Oregon Coast. I carefully balanced the charcoal on a yard of fabric patterned with an ideal natural scene. I bought the fabric in the baby section of a fabric store - its manufacturer titled it "A Time Remembered." As a material, charcoal is the product of time passing. Combined together the charcoal and backdrop evoke a sense of nostalgia, where  something has been lost and is in need of commemoration.

2010, digital c-print, 18"x15"

The deadpan approach to taking a photograph can be thought of as pure documentation of the photograph's subject matter. In this way, one is inclined to not think that they are looking at a photograph at all, but are tricked into thinking they are looking at the subject matter itself.

On one level, many of my photographic works are documents of events I have staged for the camera. I use photography to plainly share what it is I have set up or physically endured. In Unearth, I dug a hole in my backyard to see what was underground. On one hand, it is that simple--I've done this action in my yard and taken a picture. But on the other hand, because it is an image of the result of the event, it is more than just what is pictured. The action in my yard becomes symbolic of exploration in general, of human curiosity and of adventure on a scale that is easily grasped. Photography's Achilles heal, if it has one, is its perpetual slide between objectivity and subjectivity.

In the past, people went out West to explore the unknown and create adventure in their lives, but also because there was no where else to turn. By understanding certain photographs for what they capture and also for what the photographs represent, we get a broader picture of the human condition in relationship to the natural world.

2010, digital c-print, 20"x26"