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.