As a child I have vivid memories of hot summer Sundays spent playing hide and go seek while my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles met the other adults in the congregation to discuss the overall upkeep of our little family's historical church. My every summer involved a June “basket lunch”, as they called it, accompanied by a worship service and a maintenance meeting. Delighted by the newness of the place each visit, and the delight of seeing my cousins after many months, I would frolic amongst the grave markers and the out buildings. I would imagine the days of my grandfather and family arriving for church in a horse drawn surrey with the fringe on top among other stories of their youth. And hence at a very young age I began to understand a sense of nostalgia for a time that I never knew, and for an experience that I would never live. Later as a young adult I realized my family trees' resting place was the same as the location of earlier joyous childhood games of hide-and-go-seek. 

This body of work explores the present structure of Steinhagen, an historic building in Warren County, Missouri. "The Rock Church", a translation of Steinhagen, was erected in its current limestone form in 1875. The stone construction sits roughly 15 feet away from N. Hwy 47, the major artery through the city of Warrenton, Missouri.  Somewhat insulated by farms, the one room German church stands amidst the rapid growth of the surrounding county.

I make photographs in many ways to catalog evidence. Verification of that which no longer exists is a driving function. I am most interested in memory, time, and the fleeting nature of experience. Naturally, an historic object such as Steinhagen finds a place quickly within my viewfinder, reminding me that nothing is fixed, although glimpses of worlds past remain. The photographs in question are a meditation on the cyclical nature of time, loss, and rebirth. As suburbia encroaches on all fronts, this modest edifice stands eloquently alone and unadulterated by sprawl.