2020 opened the door for me to experiment with more impressionistic photography, as opposed to the more narratively-dense characteristics of my street and travel work from the past few years. It was encouraging to me because it’s the first time I ever really truly felt like I was expanding and building on everything that I have done for the past 5 years or so. The irony isn’t lost on me that in order to realize this, I had to be more minimal and patient in my work. Whereas street photography can almost overwhelm your senses, the photos presented in remain in light and suburban, ULTRA don’t feature anything dynamic or ANYTHING, really. Just shapes and colors coalescing into pleasant nothingness.

I think that’s kind of reflective on how a lot of things were taken away during this year. I think having to change your approach is something that everyone is dealing with right now. For this series, I also included snapshots - some edited, some not - from January and February of 2020. It was really jarring just to feel how sudden everything changed the world over, and it's even stranger to even process that these photos were taken in the same year that saw a crippling pandemic, social upheaval, and economic hardship all over the world. I also felt it was important to highlight the strength of the city through photos taken around NYC in the latter months of 2020, just to provide a sense of hope in what has been a transformative year.

I’d like to thank all the folks that have been so encouraging this year, and have embraced this sudden new direction with open arms. Photographs have been a saving grace, especially for this year, and I am grateful for all the conversations and new and old friends that have kept things upbeat.

I am lucky to be surrounded by profoundly creative people, and am in constant awe of that fact that it always feels like they’re reaching for the greater good and documenting real life as best as they can. Please support and protect the artists, writers, musicians and creatives that you admire.