These photographs are shot mostly on 4x5 Delta 100 film and medium format Delta 100 film. There are a few that are done with T-Max 100 also. I shot these over the summer of 2021.

One of our friends has a house by the river, and I noticed these old pylons sticking out of the water. They’re very common along the Columbia River, but when I looked closer I noticed that they have little things growing out of them, and each one had become a little incubator for life. Each one seems like its own little primal world of raw land and small green shoots, as if the world is just beginning. As if the wood is actually rock and these are tiny islands sticking out of the primal ocean. I intentionally kept the background out of focus to disconnect it from place, and I slowed the shutter way down—most of the exposures are 90 seconds or more—to give it a very timeless feel.

Shooting this was a challenge because the water level on the Columbia River goes up and down so much. Also, because of the slow shutter speed I needed a very low light situation, even though I used multiple ND filters. Trying to find exactly the right time of day at exactly the right water level was a challenge, and made this project stretch out over one or two months. But it was a fun challenge. I didn’t realize the river tidal effect was so dramatic.

As I explored the tidal area and the pylons, some new ideas came around. The seashells materializing from a gray nothingness into sharply edged objects was a fun discovery, almost as if they materialize from a primordial gray goo into defined things of life.

There are just some perspective shots with old piers that are missing now—only the pylons are left in rows. You can see the water line across the top. They stand in rows as a contrast to the solo portraits where life seems to be just beginning.