In 1996, I began making photographs along the Duwamish Waterway and started reading about the history of the area – from the time when Duwamish people lived there, through the time when a 16-mile stretch of the Duwamish River was dredged and straightened to form the 4-mile long Duwamish Waterway.
One night, when I was walking along the Duwamish River in the rain, I wished that I could make photographs of the raindrops as they hit the surface of the river. So I bought a 10-gallon aquarium, mounted my camera and flashes inside, bought some chest waders and started wading out into the Duwamish with my camera inside the floating aquarium. I made silver-gelatin fiber-based b/w prints and painted them with layers of transparent oil paints to explore the way that light passes through air and water. It was fascinating to see what was underwater and to think about the history of who had lived along the river, and the changes that have been made.
The original hand-painted silver-gelatin prints are sold-out.