Copyright 1997 - 2025
What wakes me up in the morning is exploring, finding the good bits, and then figuring out ways to help people see them. It looks like no one medium works for everything, and I'm still hoping to find one–or a technique that uses all of them.
Why?
Because the world is a visually interesting place and I'd like to have people notice more of it. Also, so many of these details are hidden right out in the open and we're part of a secret club that knows they're there.
I worked almost a decade with a company that produced full-size architectural details, and eventually ended up in the pattern shop making molds and doing R&D. I experimented with traditional plastering techniques (such as slaked lime) and designing a process to create a Corian-like finish, making white portland cement look like Arkansas limestone.
Later, I got to reproduce a cherub head from the 1925 Rich's Department Store in downtown Atlanta; this was tricky because I had to remove layers of paint from 70 year old plaster. I discovered that I preferred reproducing history more than creating new pieces.
At a salvage yard, I found the top half of a figure from the 1905 Atlanta Terminal Station. Some reading at the Kenan Research Center turned up proof of the piece's actual origin. it turns out I like doing this Sherlock-y research even more.
After that I went to college to learn software development. I taught myself C and started designing software for Palm handhelds. The first major app was an electronic version of Oakland Cemetery's paper map. The final version of the software–City Walks–became a viewer for external map sets and took a year to finish.
By then I'd finished maps for downtown Atlanta and was working on a map of downtown Birmingham, AL. After a request for a map set of Detroit, MI I created an editor that would allow anyone to create their own maps–and they would know their area better than I.
The project's focus was to encourage users to get out and start exploring–after all, they had these scrollable, searchable maps right in their pockets.
My first software job was creating virtual environments for exposure therapy. I started working on software, and later learned to create tileable textures, edit audio, and doing more R&D, such as integrating video planes with 3D models.
My first major project was creating a 9/11 simulation. I had to reasearch how the World Trade Center towers were put together so I could rebuild them and, later, bring them down again. I got good practice in creating an actual building from photos, as floorplans and blueprints were not available.
A few months later I started my first virtual reconstruction project–Auschwitz Birkenau. I had visited the year before, and the idea was to make exploring easier; it had taken me three flights and a train ride to get there–and it had snowed the day before I visited.
It would also allow the visitor to see the site as it is today and as it was when the construction was complete. It was here that I noticed the need for music to elicit emotions in this artificial environment–something I'd been affected by, but never really noticed, in movies.
Then I found an architectural competition for a real-time walkthrough of historic buildings. I chose La Tourette monastery and, like before, reconstructed it from photos and a single set of not-to-scale floorplans. It included both the interior and exterior, sound effects, music, and a mini game to encourage exploration.
After that it was a commission to recreate La Corbiere lighthouse and a few smaller projects. I also started experimenting with how to view these environments inside a browser.
Stereo cards were another way for people to visualize the world in a different way; I remembered View-Master reels, and collected a few vintage stereoscope cards for inspiration.
It wasn't difficult to start producing modern stereo cards, even with a single camera, and the easiest way to get them printed was to make them postcard sized. I took photos all around Atlanta, including Oakland cemetery and Arabia Mountain, and collected them into site-specific sets.
I kept creating reconstructions, but not as immersive experiences. I tried the 1905 Terminal Station but could never find enough details to create more than the front of the building. I had more luck with the 1965 C&S Bank building on Moreland Avenue; the building had been demolished but there were plenty of reference photos online.
My favorite project was the 1947 Constitution Building. I went downtown with a tape measure and collected dimensions of every building part I could reach. Knowing the size of bricks and the thickness of mortar makes calculating upper floor details a breeze!
In 2015, I sold my house, got rid of most of my stuff, and moved to Louisville to start a new life and do some exploring. I'm not sure about the new life, but boy did I explore. And by explore I mean WALK: downtown, Old Louisville, across the Ohio River into Indiana.
This also gave me a new set of buildings: Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Merchants Ice Tower, the demolished Baxter Avenue Station, and the Jones-Dabney lab building. Later, I worked on the 1910 Union Station in Gary, IN and the 1909 Terminal Station in Birmingham, AL.
In Atlanta, I'd been doing bespoke walking tours for friends: Oakland cemetery, Westview cemetery, Downtown, the Gulch, and movie locations. I started exploring Cave Hill cemetery the second day I was in Louisville and began working up a tour two months later.
I had been looking at Twine and thought to use it to create browser-based mobile walking tours. However, the tours were more linear so I cobbled together some html, javascript and css to create a Baedecker-inspired, single-page, read-on-your-phone, guided tour.
I've created 11 of these so far. My favorite bits are figuring out the routes, picking the POIs, and pulling the GPS coordinates.
Videos are a good way for people to see places they might never visit, so I gave it a try. I had years of reference photos and had created some processes during the stereo card days that turned photos into something resembling a graphic novel or painting style. I tried them on some photos of a building I found in Dayton, OH and they looked good. So, I plonked them into Blender's video sequencer, added some public domain music, and figured out how to create a video.
When I was in Newnan, GA in 2018, I started thinking about streetscapes; instead of focusing on a single facade and its ornaments, it became more about how the street FELT.
This includes all the senses and is influenced by the day, time, and season. A downtown block can feel different on a sunny Sunday morning than a Friday night after dark or busy workday afternoon.
The trick is figuring out how to share this with someone who isn't onsite. Would this be writing a sort of travel essay? Would it include sketches or photos?
Over the years I've explored 38 historic downtowns in seven states and 53 historic cemeteries in five states. There are more architectural details Instagram and Flickr: