Shot contains references to current events, American history, the history of photography. How does research play a roll in your work? What research did you do for Shot?

Most of my research is considered fieldwork – in other words, a majority of my research for this work is in the actual doing - the getting out and talking to present day gun owners while creating the photographs. I’m interested in the engagement with others, the possibilities of conversation, and the act of participating. I pay attention to current events and often times those things are part of the discussion in the field with the participants.

My intrigue and education around the history of photography began a number of years before this project started. I was a teaching assistant at the Maine Media Workshops + College where I had the privilege of assisting an artist and teacher named Brenton Hamilton. It was during this time (2011) and with Brenton as a guide, that I took a particular interest in this photographic process and it’s historical imagery.

I am very curious about how this project developed over time. Did your process change while making the work and can you see that in the images?

My process didn’t specifically change over time, though I became better at talking with participants about what I was doing. In the beginning, I really didn’t know if this project idea would be possible. I didn’t know if I would be turned down, if I would upset people by even asking to make their portrait, or if, for example, they would see the topic as too sensitive to participate, or even too edgy. It was all an experiment, really.

As time went on, I became more comfortable with the work and the fieldwork that it takes to create a photograph. I became more empathetic and knowledgeable about opposing views of the gun – and participants often mirrored that sort of attitude, a kind of “willing vulnerability” and respect.

The bullet holes in these photographs emphasize the physicality of a tintype. How did you come to the decision of allowing your subject to use your image as a target?

Before deciding to make work about ideas regarding the gun (and divisiveness), I was experimenting with and looking for ways that subjects of the photographs could act upon their own image…to give them agency and ask more for their participation in the portrait. This act, or allowance, then coupled with the subject of American gun culture and divisiveness, became even more important, conceptual, and layered. It’s their “shot” and my “shot” combined, and my hope is that it is a provocative exchange. It’s an act of doing something together while often approaching the topic from opposing stances.