I am honored to have been selected as one of Rocky Mountain National Park’s 2026 Artists-in-Residence. I will be living and working in the park from August 18 through September 1, creating new work inspired by the landscape and exploring how photography can be experienced through more than sight alone.

During the residency, I will be bringing together several parts of my work that have been developing over the past few years: landscape photography, tactile photography, audio description, and environmental sound.

The photographs I create in Rocky Mountain National Park will become the starting point for tactile works that translate shape, texture, and luminosity into three-dimensional relief. I will also be recording the sounds of the places where I photograph. Wind through the trees, moving water, birds, distant weather, and the quieter sounds that help give each location its own identity will become part of the finished experience.

The goal is not simply to describe a photograph for someone who cannot see it. I want to preserve more of the sense of place and create work that can be explored through sight, touch, and sound.

Come Hear Me Speak in Rocky Mountain National Park

I will be offering two public programs during my residency, and I would love to see you there.

Experiencing Rocky Mountain National Park Beyond Sight

Sunday, August 23 at 1:00 p.m.
Beaver Meadows Visitor Center Auditorium

This lecture-style presentation will explore what happens when we reconsider the assumption that visual art has to be experienced visually.

I will talk about my own journey as a blind photographer, how Carrie and I developed our tactile photography process, and how photography can be translated into an experience involving sight, touch, audio description, and sound.

I will also talk about something every photographer, artist, gallery, and museum can begin doing right now to make visual art more accessible. Accessibility does not always require complicated technology or enormous budgets. Sometimes it begins with thinking differently about how we present the work we already make.

The presentation will run approximately 60 to 90 minutes.

Viewing a Landscape Through Touch and Sound

Saturday, August 29 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Fall River Visitor Center Discovery Room

This will be a much more informal, hands-on program. Visitors can drop in, meet me, explore tactile photographs, learn how an image is translated into something that can be touched, and experience how audio description and environmental sound add context to a landscape photograph.

Visitors will also have an opportunity to make a rubbing from one of the tactile images and create something they can take home.

There is no previous art or photography experience required. Stop in for a few minutes, stay longer if you want, ask questions, and put your hands on the artwork. In this case, touching the art is very much encouraged.

Photographers, Come Find Me

One of the things I am looking forward to most during these two weeks is having enough time to simply get out into Rocky Mountain National Park and photograph.

If you are a local photographer, or you happen to be visiting the park while I am there, I would be happy to have some company.

This is not a workshop, photography tour, or organized park program. I am not teaching a class and there is nothing to sign up for or purchase. I am simply inviting other photographers to meet up with me for an impromptu morning or evening of making photographs together.

My schedule will move around depending on weather, light, residency obligations, accessibility, and whatever part of the park I decide needs my attention that day. If you would like to meet up, drop me a message through my contact page and let me know when you will be in the park. If our schedules line up, we can pick a place and go make some photographs.

And if you don’t contact me ahead of time, keep an eye out while you are exploring Rocky.

I shouldn’t be particularly difficult to identify.

I’ll be the blind guy with a white cane and a big camera, probably standing somewhere wondering why I thought carrying all this equipment uphill was a good idea.

If you see me working, come over and say hello.

Follow the Residency

I will be sharing photographs, recordings, behind-the-scenes work, and updates throughout the residency. I also plan to document what I learn during these two weeks, including how the landscape changes when I deliberately pay attention not only to what is in front of my camera, but also to what I can hear, touch, and experience around it.

The residency begins August 18. I hope you will follow along, attend one of the public programs, or find me somewhere out in the park.

And if you’re carrying a camera, maybe we’ll make a few photographs together.