This image is from Hearts Content Road, a series I shot at a woodland motel in Upstate, NY. The dated and charming interiors create a liminal space, ideal for exploring the psychological realm with my teenage subjects. While I often stage my work, collaboration with my subjects is key, as is engaging with the personality and malleability of space and light. I see light as a harbinger, and this image was motivated by a striking beam of natural light. I’d given the girls some direction for how to dress, and the details of their clothing, along with the setting, contribute to the story I aimed to tell—one of innocence colliding with forces of nature.

Transformation is a central theme in my work and is driven by an ongoing exploration of power dynamics within oneself as well as the surrounding environment. I believe society’s tendency to repress aspects of the feminine or masculine due to cultural stereotypes results in unnecessary pain, confusion, and shame. Honoring both archetypal energies is essential for wholeness, and in a patriarchal society, reintegrating the feminine into cultural consciousness can heal and balance the collective psyche. In these photographs, the cryptic symbolism of the girls’ poses suggest different stages of this journey. Like light and dark, one cannot exist without the other.

It’s as if they hold a hidden language and know something we don’t. I like to think they’re preparing for a supernatural war, and we’re witnessing the calm before the storm.

This is really nice to hear and I’m grateful that it comes across. In working with young girls, this is especially important. They’re at an age where they might feel they can’t trust anyone, not even themselves. Patience, enthusiasm, and positive reinforcement help. It’s always been a goal to provide a safe space for my subjects and approach the act of photographing as a cathartic tool. To me, photography is a healing ritual.

Growing up in the South, I’ve always been drawn to spaces that have a Southern Gothic quality. Places that are eerie, grand, and likely haunted are familiar and comforting to me. I’m captivated by locations that feel laden with history and potential but appear benign at first glance. Such spaces open portals in the mind. For Hearts Content Road, the motel is inherently transient, yet capturing moments within it freezes time. This isolation and tension mirror the claustrophobia of being confined to a body. There is a palpable sense of longing, much like the period of coming of age.

I typically choose subjects who are already close to me personally. For example, I’ve shot my mom’s piano students over the years, my high school art teacher’s daughter since she was 12… Occasionally I’ll approach people I find compelling in public—museums are good because they establish a shared interest in art, and if they’re children, I approach the mother first. For this series, I met a young woman at an event and asked if I could photograph her. After shooting together a few times, she introduced me to her younger sister, and I began photographing her as well. She was in high school Upstate, so I asked her to invite a couple of her best friends to the motel for a day of shooting. I ordered us pizza and we had a great time!

I’ve been really into Leonora Carrington’s short stories recently. They have a primitive whimsy to them, like her paintings, and possess a sardonic sense of humor and critique of conventionality that I appreciate.

I’m writing a script for a film that I plan to direct!