In my surreal portraiture, the setting is every bit as important as the figure. Often, my photo shoots do not follow the timeline you may think: a couple of hours in the photo studio with a model (expected) is typically followed by weeks of editing images together (also expected), but before anything, you can usually find me hiding away in nature with my sketchbook and then hiking with my camera. For about half of my art-making process, you could easily mistake me for a landscape photographer.

So, I decided to create this series celebrating the places that influence my art.

The photos that make up the Mountain Ephemera collection come from my visits to Mount Shasta in Northern California, the quaintest of all towns and home to my parents. Between feeding deer like a statue and woodworking with my dad, I like to sketch as the sun goes down and take photos around Castle Lake and other places that feel like the edge of the world.