As above, So Below.
Weekly Contact - Week 3, January 2026.
Month one of the year, well into a hard working winter. Snow every other weekend and long workdays that end with me greeting my lukewarm mattress, only to bid it farewell again in the frigid mornings that follow. I can’t remember the last time I made a physical photograph that didn’t first live in my eyes, etched into a memory that eventually fades into a feeling, slowly forgotten.
Every winter I go through the same cycle of wondering when the warmth of summer will appear through my computer screen reflecting on the works of past days. Home scanning is such a strange thing, with every crop, angle and hum from the scanner seems to transport me back to moment the memory was conceived. It may be obvious in immediate thought but have you ever look at something and all your senses fire off like a light show in midst of summer? Your nose remembering the scents of fresh dew and musty cigs in the wind? Or even the tender embrace from a season 7 character whose contract didn’t get renewed for the next year’s cast? I dunno there’s something strange but inherently rewarding about the human experience. I mean I could just be yearning haha.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about WWY, a body of work handpicked from the archive. Scanning and scouring for hours to make selects has been a challenge for my annoying tendency to hasten the search for “good” images. Truthfully, this process would’ve been easier had I maintained all my negatives from previous years. Still, aside from the valleys, the peaks of this process have been rewarding. It’s been meaningful to see how I’ve developed over time, from shooting techniques to developing practices that matured through repetition and care. The most fulfilling part has been recognizing patterns in the work that feel unmistakably mine. Lately, that recognition has felt less like searching and more like arriving. Even in the stillness of winter, it feels good to know something is continuing to take shape.
- Mac