The creation of meaning through examination of details resonates with my analytical mind. I am awed by the ability to reveal mastered by documentarians such as the French photographer Sophie Ristelhueber and the English author and photographer Bruce Chatwin. My varying photographic work shares a similar underpinning of recording remnants of human presence. This urban landscapes series deals with questions of perception. Having spent a great deal of time deciphering the intent behind highly designed environments in architectural history courses, the ambiguous purpose and meaning of these locations draws me. Surreally pretty with an overlay of eeriness, they speak to me of the equally liberating and frightening temporal reality that entropy will increase uncontrollably in the urban system—an evolution of an abiotic system without the controlling hand of the original utilitarian human developers. In the most literal sense, we do not perceive these locations as they are. Working with an overwhelming amount of information, our brains will edit stimuli and create expected truths. Standing in front of these locations, I am blind to the intense saturated colors. Grown of multiple layers of light pollution from neighboring signs, tungsten streetlights, and urban haze these tones are seen only after capture on slide transparency film. The final prints are matched to the film as closely as possible. Impossible with digital cameras, these extremely long exposure range from 1 to 15 minutes. Developed through trial and error, my own eyes have become the only exposure meter used to capture what I do not see. While this particular series features only my adopted home of Seattle, this solitary late night exploration has become my way of experiencing place as I travel. There is a strong emphasis on formal composition in the work. Varying from purely abstract planes without indication of scale to inhabitable, 3-dimensional spaces aching for an explanatory narrative, all are bound by an active working of the viewing space. I draw inspiration for this type of looking from documentary photographers as diverse as Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joel Meyerowitz, and Shelby Lee. Reticent to be passive observers, each imbues the subject with a sense of monumentality.