Summer in Santa Fe - My Introduction to Photography

The photo narrative explores a travel experience, spanning from the Blue-ridge Mountains to the shores of San Diego’s beaches, this is a coming of age tale as old as the American Tale itself

Neon sign for Jack's Bar-B-Que featuring a red and pink mermaid riding a dragon, with the text 'JACK'S' in vertical red neon and 'BAR-B-QUE' in green neon below.

When I first started capturing images I hadn’t even given a second thought to their aesthetic. In fact, if I recall correctly, it was an assignment for a humanities-required-art history class in undergrad. Speaking, of which, at this point in my story, this is now at least two years behind me and I had been on the cusp of a transition, while motley subdued in my current situation. As a professional and person I was at an impasse. In any case, a break in the clouds happened when I was invited out to the Santa Fe Institute for a summer of research. Looking back, and even then, this opportunity has always struck me as a dilemma. To abandon what I had currently been working on and jump into this desert void, or to stay the course? Maybe it didn’t help that I was feeling subdued on said course. This isn’t to say that this question was so easily resolved, nor it is to say that it has even been resolved. 

A shirtless person holding a decorative mask with a face design in front of their face, partially obscuring their face, against a plain beige wall.

So Santa Fe, as in New Mexico, as in Los Alamos, as in well … wow, shocking and even odd. The oddity hadn’t occurred until I was on Route sixty-something littered with mountain ridges and red rocks, road for eons, and a looming danger of dashed crossing lines that cause an exciting heart beat. What a strange place for a boy like me I thought. This research project was something quite personal, and not entirely foreign in substance, but executing these insights would not be so straight forward. But what strikes one when they drive into Santa Fe is not theory, but the awe of its protruding mountains serving as backdrop to the quaint little town-city. The sky stretched beyond sight and for an east-coaster even the mountains of Connecticut didn’t compare. And so, I set out on another project, this one would lead me to travel, to explore more of the American west, it’s blood-soaked roads, it’s churches of antiquity, and it’s trail-blazoned back roads. In all this awe sings a story of travel, discovery and coming of age. 

Four people walking in a snow-covered landscape under a dark, stormy sky.

“We are going through the desert to get to the desert”

- Thomas McCarthy

White Sands, NM (2022)

First we have to understand getting to Santa Fe to understand the motivation for this project. To get to New Mexico I took on a road trip from Baltimore to Santa Fe. Eventually, traveling to the coast of San Diego’s Black beach and LA’s Santa Monica with the boys. This trip, which was an adventure in of itself, took me through the exhaust of the Virginias, down to Tennessee, through Knoxville for a snack, to lively Nashville for a nap and through Memphis by morning, stoping to admire the fire stations and trolleys of the old jazz town. Pass Arkansas and for a night cap settled in OKC. And If I’m honest I had never been east of Virginia before. I was full of both shock and intrigue. Thinking back, I’d imagine the trip itself was a stretch of my then existing boundaries. I find that competing for road against 16-wheelers on 100-mph Texas roads, puts driving into a new perspective. Near accidents, bloody collisions and dead carcasses littering the roads. It’s distinctly different than a Baltimore county road, but not a regret to mention. 

Stormy OKC

Bar shelf with various liquor bottles, a row of empty cocktail glasses, and a large screen displaying a black-and-white image of a zebra.
A tall skyscraper partially obscured by fog in an urban area.

OKC was a rest-stop on my way to NM, and to Baltimore in the Fall to follow. But I was surprised by this little farm and flat town like city. The sort of drama it possessed.

Boys Beach

Silhouette of a person wearing a wide-brimmed hat against a blue sky.

What’s more classic than a beach, a boy and a babe — make sure to wear your sunscreen, it’s heating up. I mean who hasn’t dreamed of the beaches of Los Angelos and San Diego, well I did. And I took the soonest opportunity to visit. A 12-hour drive through the sunny deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. Where on arrival California welcomed me with a cabal of boys, bodies, and chance encounters.

Red sunglasses with reflective green lenses resting on sandy beach.
Close-up of a person lounging on a sandy beach wearing black leggings and orange shorts, with a backpack visible in the background.

When reflecting on these pictures I thought a lot about black masculinity and the portrayal of joy, liberations, and fun for the sake of fun. When I see these images I see Men enjoying their Saturday afternoon with like-minded friends, something not often shown. In fact, most beach images are sexualized, hyper in fact. I love a booty shot as much as the next guy, but all I wish to add here is to capture men being joyous, free, and without judgment.

Two shirtless men standing on a beach, smiling and engaging in conversation, with umbrellas, beachgoers, and high-rise buildings in the background.

Returning Home

A young man with curly dark hair and a light beard wearing a black hoodie and a blue, white, and green knit scarf, sitting outdoors with a beige background.
Young woman with dark hair wearing a pink fleece jacket and pink turtleneck, holding a plastic cup with a dark beverage, outdoors with trees and brick building in background.
Two construction workers with red safety helmets and green reflective vests standing on dirt at a construction site with large pipes and metal framework in the background, both looking at their phones.
A squirrel sitting on a rock, holding a nut in its paws, with a blurred green forest background.

What had become clear by the time I retuned home in 2022, was that photography was my next pass-time, in all frankness, but the more I searched through images, tossing in my mind their use, their value, their since of presence, I thought more and more about what it meant for me to photograph. Capturing the elements of photography had had an impression on me, but more, what is the value of an image? What can we say with our photographs? With our sixth sense to see that which is not there — to reveal the world in post-development. I was sold from go.

“I was full of both shock and intrigue. Thinking back, I’d imagine the trip itself was a stretch of my then existing boundaries.”
Close-up of a person's shoulder with a multicolored striped sweater and an orange strap of a bag over the shoulder.
Miniature figure of a person standing inside a large, illuminated hole or cave, looking at a glowing light bulb on a base, with textured, yellowish walls.