My first-ever book!
There’s a term astronauts use to describe the rare shift in perspective they receive when seeing our world from the heavens. It’s called “The Overview Effect.”
Beholding Earth from above brings a sense of existential oneness & appreciation for the precious planet & the beauty that fills it. John Lennon tapped into this perspective when he wrote “Imagine.” Imagine seeing the entirety of Earth: without borders, the noise of traffic, senseless wars, exhausting politics, corruption, toxic systems of religion, or the petty conflicts of our everyday lives. All of that fades away when you gain a broader perspective & behold Earth as one giant & very quiet marble covered in unexpected landscapes that look like abstract art.
If there is one goal I wish to achieve with my art, it is to impart just a sliver of what I imagine the Overview Effect to be like. And one of the ways I attempt to do this is by taking photos from the sky. Because when you see our world from a different perspective, you begin to realize that we are living on a massive piece of cosmic art.
These are some of my favorite photos I’ve taken over the past few years. I hope you enjoy them.
P.S. I will be offering prints of these photos in the coming days, so stayed tuned!
Since I was young, I have been obsessed with three things: flying, instrumental music, & the great outdoors. During my free time, you could usually find me either hiking in the woods or playing Microsoft Flight Simulator on my Gateway2000 while listening to John Williams. Perhaps growing up in rural Arkansas & coming from a family of aviators & musicians has something to do with it.
Years later, I find myself spending most days flying drones & editing the footage I’ve captured, both at home in the PNW & far away at the ends of the earth. Landscape cinematography has become my “visual language”; it’s how I speak about what moves me & stirs my imagination. Because at the end of the day, I see all of creation - from the Earth we live on to the cosmos enveloping us - as the greatest & most sacred work of art in existence. And it is one of the greatest joys as an artist to help everyone around me experience this transformative beauty.
For 20 years, projectors have been the main tool in my creative toolbox. They are like the paintbrush with which I paint room-sized canvases. These magical luminous devices have allowed me to create entire worlds, transporting indoor audiences to the great outdoors & even into the deep vastness of the cosmos. And it all started with PowerPoint.
Back in college, I was always the one volunteering to create & run the “slides” at church or for group projects at school. But I always found these flat, two-dimensional presentations to be quite boring. So I was always experimenting with bringing in beautiful images, sometimes timed to the music, to liven things up a bit. I guess you could say one of my earliest artistic passions was to Make PowerPoint Great Again! Or at least to make them great in the first place. LOL
PowerPoint quickly progressed into non-linear, dynamic presentation softwares that allowed for motion backgrounds. Then came analog video mixers, which opened up all sorts of possibilities, like adding multiple computers & freestyle mixing visuals during live concerts. Static slides evolved into fluid real-time music videos that served as backgrounds for lyrics & backdrops for bands. But I was still operating within the confines of rectangular old screens.
That’s when a few like-minded friends & I decided to think bigger & more expansive. We looked at the walls & ceilings as potential canvases. Even the air around us became a vehicle for light particles, letting audiences be immersed in hypnotic beams of light!
And so the intersection of VJ-ing & projection mapping became my creative address. Historically, this is where most of my career has resided. Sometimes it looks like showing up at a conference & focusing on the aesthetics of the screen, along with the entire atmosphere. Other times it looks like showing up with a few projectors & mapping entire spaces: from hotel ballrooms to cathedrals to caves in Iceland. Whatever the venue & however large or small the canvas it comes with, my passion is to illuminate your eyes, transform your surroundings, & transport you to another world.
Who knew you could do all that with PowerPoint?! ;)
This space is for fellow artists in the Church who are exploring the intersections of liturgical art, sacred space, & projection technology.
It’s a constellation of elements curated for those learning how ancient Christian practices might shape future expressions of worship.
It’s a time to slow down. To let your imagination to be stretched. To allow your vision to be expanded.
So that we all might learn to see a little clearer & further on our spiritual journey.
My Home in the Forest
“Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the Sea. That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, ‘a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.’ Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear and sadness.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings)
