Tiny Stories

While reading Annie Dillard's "Seeing", I was struck with a reflective, introspective urge to think about my life and human experience. In her essay, she explains the illusive nature of perception and the importance of conscious and meticulous observation of the ordinary. 'Ordinary' becomes significant when you consider that life is constructed of ordinary things with a few rare glimpses into the realm of unordinary. If one cannot observe the ordinary, then one will miss life entirely. By using geospatial technologies and Google's monumental image archive, I returned to significant places in my life and attempted to assimilate the recorded images with my recorded perceptions. I found myself feeling a mixture of subjectivity and objectivity in the experience. I saw the places as distant, yet alive and 'glowing' as Dillard describes it, when visual stimuli becomes 'seeing'. The images brought to my remembrance 'Tiny Stories' from throughout my life. I have chosen to feature these locations due to the strong memories or associations that they mustered. Particularly the images and places that were related to my wife and our experiences together were of interest to me.
My choice of medium was influenced by the former director of the Central Utah Art Center, Jared Latimer. To tell stories of his relationship with his environment and dependency on technology, he made several award-winning paintings of Google's street view images.

I helped plant the quaking Aspen 17 years ago. The tree was a favorite place for outdoor bathroom breaks. I like to think I helped it grow so tall. First home in America.  

I picked up my first blind date from this bed and breakfast. Married her 3 years later.

Proposed in this vacant house. Owners still don’t know. For this reason we have never published pictures of the proposal on social networks.

Our first home together, affectionately named “the summer home”. The Landlord disappeared. Weeks later we received a notice of unlawful detainment applied to our door.

The historic Mayor’s Mansion in downtown Provo. 5000 sq. ft. house; 500 sq. ft. apt with a 100 sq. ft. balcony. Current habitation.