DOUBLE VISIONS
In April of 2006, I took a week for myself up in the Big Trees of Calaveras County. During this week of solitude, while making a journal of self-exploration, I had a major artistic/therapeutic epiphany. In the midst of photographing nearby flora along and my own image for use in the journal, I discovered that by printing a photo of myself over a nature photo, I could create a self portrait that I really liked. Like most of you, I have often had a great deal of difficulty appreciating photographs of my own image. Now, I found myself looking at an image that combined a photograph of my own face with that of a lovely speckled rock surrounded with greenery. As the photo emerged from the little dye-sub printer I had taken with me, I gasped and thought, “That's beautiful”! I then did a double take as I realized I was looking at a picture of my own face. Thus began my journey into the world of what I now call “DOUBLE VISIONS”. It is my sincere belief that when we are able to appreciate our own image, we begin to embrace self love and thus grow in self confidence. DOUBLE VISIONS are more than portraits to me. They are valuable therapeutic tools that can be hung on the walls as artwork. Imagine owning a self portrait that allowed you to see beyond your surface image. Along with each persons photograph, I blend in elements of nature or architecture in order to create a portrait that tells a story about the subject, thereby allowing that person to see themselves in a way they may never have imagined. The people in these portraits often discover elements of their own personalties they had never considered.