I believe in the atomic power of topography. These environments we inhabit, what we see and breathe as we go about our lives, can’t be innocuous. Places are languages we learn to speak, with special, secret words, like keys. 

I grew up next to corn fields, in a suburb still filled with model homes and mostly empty streets, and the future was limitless. We could run and never stop until our legs gave up. Cynthia and I raised our family at the foot of a mountain—nestled in its shadow, like a cradle. Did this push me, unconsciously, towards immediate surroundings when I picked up a camera? Our house an echo and my eyes longing for intimacy?

I also remember driving through The Prairies, years ago. Music blaring, watching storm clouds gather on that vast, boundless horizon, and understanding, deep in my bones, that I’d be someone else here.

Maybe someone with a cowboy hat
and a reverence for eternity.

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By the time you see this Subscriber Full Name, the website redesign will be live. You can read all about it in today’s companion post (link below), so I won’t repeat myself, but I invite you to explore when you get a chance. The homepage is now a decade of stories, literally. There’s still work to be done but, despite some compromises, it feels right to finally see past and present converge. I hope you enjoy the ride :)

On to the links…