2023 | Wet Plate Collodion Photography | Dunes, weathered structures, portraits including my wife, Sarah
In 2023, I spent time in Provincetown at a remote Dune Shack. It’s a place built long ago, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. These shacks are part of the coast’s history. They stand for resilience. Now they are in danger. The government wants to take them. Eminent domain. They could be gone. This crisis makes it urgent to document. To show their importance and their fragility.
This isn’t just landscape or portrait work. It’s about history, environment, and art. Art can help. It can speak. By using wet plate collodion, I aim to inspire action. To make people see what is at risk. To push for preservation. The issues are national. Land use, history, ecology—they matter everywhere.
I took the pictures on site. I used a portable darkroom to develop images. They are delicate. They show textures. The atmosphere of the dunes and shacks. I shared these images widely online. The site visits had tours led by park rangers. Visitors learned. They saw why this place matters. They understood the threats. They talked with me. They learned about conservation. About saving these sites.
This work is my contribution. A call to action. It’s about using art to help. To teach. To defend a piece of history before it’s lost forever. My photographs are a record. A message. A way to keep these places alive in words and images.
