Construction Sites

A few years ago, I was photographing an old-growth forest near my home in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I learned to use a drone during that commission to photograph the forest canopy and to show the proximity of the forest to the urban environment. Driving my daily drive to the forest, I noticed several neighborhoods being converted to commercial developments.

Observing this transformation from the street, I thought that the aerial perspective from a drone would be an innovative way to document these rapidly changing landscapes. My observations revealed that the physical nature of construction sites also changed very rapidly. Returning to a site even few days later, the progress of the construction created new photographic opportunities. In choosing a composition, I found that a small movement of the drone’s camera angle can turn a straightforward workplace documentation into an Abstract Expressionist field of color. I enjoy this challenge and am drawn to the revealing qualities of the human markings on the land.

Throughout my career, I have focused on nature and environmental subjects. I believe that construction sites provide historical documention of how a society views development, technological progress and the treatment of the environment. The major environmental issues of our day - climate change, population/economic growth, diminishing natural resources and sustainability – are all incorporated into the designing and implementation of our future built environment. I see these temporary construction landscapes as visual metaphors for how we are choosing to create our future.