The Black Land

My main interest since 1999 has been photographing the anthracite coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. For nearly two hundred years, mining dominated all aspects of life in this area. Although the industry declined after WWI, the physical, social, and environmental consequences reverberate to the present. My effort is to present a portrait of the area stressing the transformation of the land by the mining operations and the economic and social history through documenting the structures in and around the towns and villages.

Hereditament

“Each building has a particular sound. Putting a sequence of photographs together makes a sound.”
— Hilla Becher

Transformations

“At least if there’s a war, they won’t bomb us. The planes will look down and think we’ve already been bombed.”
— Darryl Ponicsan, Andoshen, PA

Grace

Beauty is found in everyone, not just the movie stars. After studying the great Hollywood photographers like George Hurrell. C. S. Bull, and Edward Steichen


I began photographing people who I saw as extraordinarily graceful in the way they engaged the world.

Terrors

Fourth Book

The three laws of thermodynamics govern all that exists. In simplest terms they are:
– You can’t win.
– You can’t break even.
– You can’t get out of the game.

Man’s Regret

“Photography is man’s regret”
— Araki