It’s only appropriate for me to kick off my new blog in this manner…. in a way where I feel like I’m completely exposed and vulnerable–showing not necessarily my most beautiful work, but the work that I’m most connected to right now.
It’s been an interesting journey for me—both as an artist, and as what I’d like to call a “new adult”. I can’t complain about my childhood at all. It was quite perfect, actually–at least when you compare it to a lot of other upbringings. What I’ve come to realize in the last year in particular, however is that I never appreciated growing up with what I had. I was blessed with parents who never showed me anything but love and support and as a married adult of 30, I’ve started to look at my parents and siblings in completley different light (I’m the oldest of 4). I’m starting to see my parents and siblings as comrades and people that I’m connected to on a deeper level. Those whom I share a history with. It’s been a year of discovery, appreciation and a year of longing to know more about these people in my life. I’m interested in their struggles, their dreams and their hearts. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.
Last week I made the decision to cancel all my shoots and go out to my family’s farm in Eastern Colorado for Harvest. It’s been close to 15 years since all of us were together— and 15 years since I was there. We grow wheat and some millet, and that’s about all I know. I’ve been a “city slicker” my whole life, but some of my very best and sweetest memories are of arrowhead hunting with my dad and walking the land out by our farm or waking up to the smell of my Grandma’s bacon and coffee early in the mornings. It’s like a dream, actually, and I’m nostalgic for these days.
So that’s what I wanted to capture in these images— a sense of loss, appreciation, nostalgia, love and of course an undying desire to know my family and our history.
These two images are of our quonset. The image above is of my brother, Robbie who is reading the instructions on how to put together a pressure washer—the one below is of the beautiful chaos of many unfinished projects that the quonset hosts. When I showed this image to my grandma, Nonie, she said that Papa, my grandpa would roll over in his grave. That made me smile. He should see my car!

This is my youngest brother Mark. He just turned 21 on June 20th–He’s a riot and has the best dry sense of humor.

And this is my other brother, Robbie. He is 25 and is my kindred spirit—always looking for adventure and a good time.

We employ a harvesting crew to come out to harvest our wheat every summer. We’ve been using Frederick Harvesting crew for the last 20 years. This is a photo of Zane, one of the boss’s sons giving me a ride in the combine.

These are a couple other guys from the crew—One of them came all the way from ireland to work.

Instead of getting a new car when I was 16, my parents gave me my uncles old car from the 70′s. I drove a 1970 yellow ford maverick for most of my formative years. I loved this car. Loved it! It’s retired now out at our farm, but I’ve always wanted to take it home and restore it… maybe next year.

This is my family (minus my dad). In order from left to right: Mark, Amy, my mom, and my brother Robbie.


This is maybe my favorite image from this series. I did not tell my dad to pose like this—-this shot is pure “John Harris”. I’m blowing it up for my studio. I love it!