By the bay

This body of work emerged without prior intention. After eight years spent in Iraq, I entered an extended retreat to recover from diagnosed PTSD. Sitting by the sea, I observed how people inhabit space — how they move, pause, and momentarily belong to their surroundings. Through quiet conversations, fragments of lives, destinies, and unspoken histories slowly revealed themselves. In my own solitude, I became acutely aware of the solitude of others: individuals surrounded by crowds, yet profoundly alone. The density of people did not diminish their isolation; it often intensified it. Over time, I created approximately 10,000 images using both film and digital cameras, allowing the medium to shape the tempo of observation. This ongoing work will be published as a book titled By the Bay.