The pictures in my book were taken in the East Bay Regional Park system, a collection of open and wild areas totaling more than 124,000 acres, and the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which has 30,000 acres of watershed land. Having lived in Oakland for 25 years, I have regularly visited the parks, which are within easy reach of our home. In March of 2020, when our choreographic work came to a complete stop, I began to wake up before dawn and drive to areas I’d never explored. As the pandemic shutdown stretched on, I began to take pictures. What I found in these spaces was dynamic, surprising and full of life. The landscapes, plants and animals were in a constant state of change.
For the 44 photographs in this book, I moved the camera as I shot. I used awkward aperture and ISO settings. The camera became a brush. The images are more like paintings than photographs.
