"I will create a photographic and musical response to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill through the mediums of self-portraiture and song. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill has had significant effect on my inner life and I wish to respond to that stimulus with honesty and creativity.
I will create a series of 10 black and white images that seek to tell a story about my individual relationship to petroleum and the context in which that relationship exists. Along with the images, I will write a "score" that can fit within the framework of the images, giving them color and life, and adding to the story as a whole. The music will add the emotion and background ambience that will complete the experience for the viewer. The work will be presented as a show and is currently available for booking. I hope to engineer a sense of immersion using two very powerful senses—sight and hearing.
I use two medium format SLR cameras—a Mamiya 645 super and a Mamiya RB67. I will use fine grain black and white film and an archival printing process. The large size of the medium format negative combined with the fine grain black and white film and the archival printing process will allow me to produce large, high quality images, maximizing visual impact. The music will be recorded in my home studio on high quality recording gear.
The money will go towards the building of sets for the imagery, purchasing pricy 120 film, image processing, printing, framing, and CD replication and production."