The Bubble series of photographs was created between 1998-2001 at Lake Scattergood in the Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa/Hull. Each of the photographs were taken in the lull just before a summer storm when humidity loads the air with sluggish heat, water becomes dead calm and sky takes on an even tone. Glycerin added to the soap and water mix gives the bubbles, blown with a child’s toy, size and staying power. They float across this tiny lake, giving me time to frame multiple images, hoping for at least one negative that will capture the quality of light, stillness and tonal qualities that I seek.
These bubbles were part of a project to photograph air. Air is invisible except for it’s material presence on the things it touches. I saw the bubble as an equivalence or visible marker for air that is intangible. The bubble is also a metaphor for transience and change. It’s a confluence of air and water at a tender moment that signals unavoidable, impending change. In all my work, I am asking the camera to intensify and pinpoint what I observe and experience. I feel rooted in a documentary record, yet free to destabilize the real through metaphor and poetics.