Near–middle–far

Near–middle–far is to a picture what time–manner–place is to a sentence.

In some spots, there’s a lot of space between people, places, and words, and I’m from one of those dots.

There’s more West Texas in me than West Texas in West Texas.

A thing becomes itself whenever starts to take shape.

Unconditional love takes courage.

There’s no shortcut if your subject is the Permian Basin.

What’s there can be more generous than what’s imagined.

The thought of everything getting worse misinterprets how far we’ve come.

Want to understand how strange everything is?: make art.

Something must become so disturbing that nobody knows what it is other than new.

I’m from place to place from time to time.

Nobody is alone when it comes to getting older.

A modest spool of gray film can make a real difference.

My happiness is photography that reminds me how fantastic everything is outside.

We’re not the same size inside, but it’s where continental growth occurs.

Success exists to be shared, and kindness costs close to zilch.

I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it.

I assembled my camera gear to take beautiful photos and then discovered the problem with beautiful images was that I wanted to take beautiful pictures.

You’ll have to think and write a tone of bad stuff before you can think and write something worth saying.

I read into things way too much, way too often.

I’m an artist whenever I believe I am.

Curiosity solves problems, and pictures are close to thoughts.

There’s something brutally honest about a monochromatic photograph, and I like that.

I’ve yet to see a grudge win.

Once, somebody said that a black-and-white photo looked old, and I thought, that’s a crazy way to consider photography.

Lean into your poise.

You can spend most of your life trying to blend in and fit in and then realize there is nothing there to blend in and fit with: a fighting moment and the beginning of the rest of your life.

It’s impossible to go through life without feeling mangled.

There are many who contributed to our world would love to be here today.

My photos show how I feel.

I’ll probably go from feeling essential to being less important to not even being here at all.

Belief doesn’t bother me, but sometimes its actions do.

To project an image of perseverance is unnecessary because being here already says enough.

Every year, I’ll probably see another campaign to end hunger while obesity proliferates.

It’s better to do something small than nothing at all.

Most bad feelings are avoidable whenever we consider something enjoyable.

I’m not a visual storyteller, but if my work unintentionally tells one, that’s okay because I want to feel as surprised as everyone else.

You’re successful if you can help others.

Every day is something to be excited about.

I have almost no control over anything I make, and that’s what’s fantastic about it.

The difference between greatness and compulsion is the placement of a goal.

An ill mind will silence a healing voice.

The filmmaking technology we have inside our pockets is beyond breathtaking.

Emotional pain is a flawed expectation leaving the body.