Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does all the work.

- Mark Twain

For the making of Hydrangea and Queen Anne’s Lace I set up a large format camera, wait for it to get dark, open the exposure, and “make” the photograph by setting off very powerful flash bulbs.  In short, this method of making the photograph calls into question the common assumption that photographs are made ‘instantaneously” and the large format, black and white prints capture mysterious, almost ethereal night-scene images. This is an attempt to unleash a large quantity of light (up to 110,000 lumens) and observe how and where the light decides to go, even directly into the lens.  These photographs are evidence of my experiments with uncontrolled illuminations and are influenced by the mysterious experiments of Nikola Tesla and Etienne-Jules Marey.