2023 | Wet Plate Collodion Photography | Dunes, weathered structures, portraits including my wife, Sarah
n 2023, I spent time living and working in a remote dune shack in Provincetown , one of the few remaining along the Cape Cod National Seashore. These humble structures, built long ago, are woven into the region’s cultural and artistic history. They stand as symbols of resilience, simplicity, and creative solitude. Yet now, they are at risk. Through the exercise of eminent domain, the government threatens to reclaim the shacks, and with them, a vital piece of our collective past. The urgency to document and preserve them has never been greater.
This project goes beyond landscape or portrait photography. It is about history, ecology, and the power of art to bear witness. Using the 19th-century wet plate collodion process, I seek to reveal both the strength and fragility of this environment, making visible what might otherwise fade from memory. The work speaks to larger national issues: land use, conservation, and the tension between preservation and progress.
On site, I worked with a portable darkroom, developing each image in the shifting light of the dunes. The resulting plates are tactile and atmospheric; they capture the textures of sand, wood, and sky with haunting intimacy. During my time there, I shared the work and process with visitors on ranger-led tours. People were curious, engaged, and often moved. They began to understand the significance of these shacks, the beauty of their impermanence, and the urgency of protecting them.
This project is my contribution, a call to action. It’s about using art as a form of stewardship, a way to teach, to inspire, and to defend a fragile part of our heritage before it disappears. These photographs serve as both record and reminder: that the past still speaks, and it is our responsibility to listen before it’s gone.
