Cosmic Egg, November 2018

Florida Paranormal, 2018

Green Dionysus, October 2018

Krakow, July 2018

Somewhere over France, August 2018

Pathway to the Greater Reality, August 2018

Devon Avenue, Rogers Park, Chicago. May 30, 2018

Star Map, May 2018.

This is an image of a supernova at the center of the universe. An exploding star: sending forth cosmic elements which will eventually form new planets and new species of life. And then, after the expanding blossom of the explosion recedes, the dying star will collapse and become a black hole, receding inward and consuming all that surrounds it.

This photograph is a combination of many individual photographs; using my camera I photographed many exposures of the floor of a chapel within Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. Next, I combined these images into a single horizontal panorama. This new panorama of the floor in front of me, became my new "master": it was then repeated numerous times, and half of these were reversed, like mirror images. All of these images were then collected into one "canvas" and digitally "stitched" together using Photoshop.

Baroque Automaton, April 2018

This image is an imaginary re-creation of a Baroque-era "automaton", a term once used to describe a "mechanical-man" (or in this case, a mechanical-woman). Automatons were essentially puppets or proto-robots, powered by wind-up, clockwork-like mechanisms.  These complex productions of engineering and design were handmade by highly skilled craftspeople, and were considered valuable treasures, much sought after for display in the collections of curiousities which fashionable nobles and wealthy merchants curated to delight their peers.
I conceived of this automaton as being in the collection of a Spanish nobleman, circa 1600. Constructed from plates of silver which were looted from Mexico, this mechanical-elf would dance and sing when its' internal mechanism was wound and then released.  This 'renaissance-robot' would sing Andalusian and Catalonian folk songs, while dancing a rudimentary and primitive version of the dance now termed "flamenco." The halls of the royal palace echoed with the startled voices of the assembled audience, the pounding of the automaton's heavy metal boots, and the eerie hollow voice as she sang her sad songs.
This photograph is made entirely from a single source image which has been repeated over and over, at different sizes. The source image, which can also be seen here, is a photograph of a piece of metal which was found lying in the middle of a residential street in Chicago. That sad bit of 21st century detritus has here been elevated into an example of 15th century high-technology.

Alchemical Sphere, February 2018

As the Old God Collapses, the New God Emerges, January 2018

"Nothing is new under the sun." Whether the subject is religion, science, or art, all new ideas emerge from the ones left behind. Knowledge, like a river, flows forward from a previous source. New civilizations grow from the cities preceding them; the burnt ashes of forgotten or dying cultures can feed and fertilize new growth. Consider the truth of this statement and remember it as you look at this collection of photographs I have entitled "As the Old God Collapses, the New God Emerges."

This visible, "natural" world we spend our days in is a reflection of a greater reality. As Manly P. Hall stated in his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages (first published in 1928): "The physical nature of the universe is receptive; it is a realm of effects. The invisible causes of these effects belong to the spiritual world. Hence, the spiritual world is the sphere of causation; the material world is the sphere of effects; while the intellectual - or soul - world is the sphere of mediation."

The artist can be a mediator between these spheres, creating images which are reflections and transmissions from a greater reality beyond the clouded spectrum of everyday, half-conscious life.

These images were made from a single double-exposure. In other words, two distinct photographs were combined to create a new source image.

While visiting a large greenhouse/conservatory, I made two photographs. The first photograph was a close-up photo of a large, tropical leaf. The next image was a photo of a different plant, from a greater distance. These two photographs were combined. This new double-exposure became the new source image from which this series was created.