Tribute

Sometimes discovering a new place is a little like meeting a new friend. Occasionally the connection takes time to develop. At other times it feels immediate. My first encounter with Long Island was very much the latter.

Although I had visited New York City many times, I had never ventured beyond it. That changed in the late summer of 2018 when I travelled to Sag Harbor to spend time with a close friend.

What began as a simple visit – time spent fishing and exploring the shoreline – quickly became something more. I arrived with certain preconceptions, yet found myself unexpectedly drawn to the landscape and its quiet complexity.

On returning, I began to explore more deliberately, creating pictures along the shoreline. The first of these, Esprit de Corps, was made less than a mile from Sag Harbor – a place where moments of stillness and isolation exist alongside the presence of a densely inhabited landscape.

In working there, I found myself drawn not to the obvious, but to something quieter – traces of a landscape shaped over time, where land, water and light continue their slow dialogue.

Working primarily in black and white allowed the pictures to move beyond the immediate and towards something more timeless – an acknowledgement of what remains, beneath change.

I continue to feel a strong connection to this place, and return when I can – drawn by something difficult to define, yet immediately familiar.