introduction

I’m currently a staff photojournalist with the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2002, after three years as a commercial product photographer and seven years as a freelance photojournalist, I was hired as chief photographer for the Chapel Hill News and then staff photojournalist for the News and Observer.

About the “cellular obscura” project…

Evolution is messy. Certain ecosystems can’t maintain themselves without that spark of lightning to ignite the underbrush. In that instance fire equals death and new life. We are watching the current evolutionary stage of visual media happen so fast it seems exponential. And I believe the debates we have today about technology vs. art echo the words that were spoken when the medium of photography started; when the Kodak Brownie made it possible for millions to own a camera; when 35mm replaced 4×5 as the photojournalist’s choice; the introduction of motordrives, autofocus, digital, etc. You don’t have to like it, or embrace it, but you can’t deny the effect technology has on society’s production and consumption of visuals.

A few years ago I discovered an unconventional (at the time) yet commonplace tool that yielded a digital image which had the soul of a Polaroid: a Motorola E815 cellphone camera. It helped me embrace this evolution as I was able to bridge the gap between how I wanted my photos to feel and how they were to be made in this digital age. And as a bonus, having to work with its technical limitations and lack of sophistication was, and continues to be, very liberating creatively speaking.

Yet the journey from that first photo isn’t just about practicing the mechanics of new technology; it’s also a study on how to continue documenting a society that’s become media savvy and hyper aware of a camera lens. cellular obscura is a documentary project in and about navigating this evolution while using the Kodak Brownie of the digital age.