Chance. The chance happenings that occur, the decisions we make, these have been my passion for as long as I can remember. Not the decisions themselves, but the effect that each action has on the reaction. I often obsess over the actions not made that can change the course of life. Chance happenings assembled fate so that I would find my mother just after her final hour, that my father would have his heart attack on the back of a fire truck - on call -rather than in the station with the EMTs. There was not even a fire that night. It is strange how much we rely on timing, waiting for situations to present themselves, repeating that this “timing” must be “right”, but with the endless opportunity for chance to change any moment we create.

Chance brought my fathers passing, brought my mother’s need for an outlet, brought my need for a class in my schedule and built for us our common ground: photography.

I received my first photographic advice from my mother -she taught me the benefits of shooting as a woman (breasts are a great tripod) and exposed me to the ideas of light, and the value it brings to each frame. The first moment that inspired my own creative will was seeing my mother in the perfect light on a summers day. That moment of vulnerability, and the fleeting moment that perfect light offers, instilled in me the need to be aware, to be present, so not to miss these chances. This has led me to consider subjects otherwise missed - simple objects from a dresser, the way the light appears at just the hour you wake, and the last light of the day on the bathroom wall. These too, are gifts of chance, moments of perfect timing.

I have spent time alone in my family home, figuring out what has made it such a safe space, even in its emptiness (empty nature). Watching as light illuminates the absence that time has created. Once I have felt the memory return, I attempt to capture the space at its perfect balance, in the past and the present, with reverence to the value of the positives and the negatives (emotionally and tonally) that each brings.

As time continues to pass, it is my aim to give the home my mother created and the memories that were made the respect they deserve as I transition into adulthood. It is my chance to reclaim moments that will, with age, too easily slip from memory, to explore aspects of my life that may one day be forgotten.