This project began as a creative accompaniment to walks prescribed by my physical therapist. Having spent the better part of a year in bed recovering from an injury, one day I was told that it was time to venture out. To begin building strength and endurance. I was to start with a lap around the block and hopefully build up to two miles per day.
My arrival in Des Moines was not planned. I had left Iowa 25 years prior and had spent little time in the city. I knew nothing of my new neighborhood. I found downtown Des Moines to have a cinematic starkness, its shadows and lines strong, its streets nearly empty, its demeanor stoic. Day after day for months I plodded slowly around the neighborhood, logging blocks, then miles. The stillness of a sweltering Iowa summer night. Muffled echoes of a distant train in the fog. Howling wind and bitter arctic cold.
For the series I chose a digital point-and-shoot purchased in 2008. This project sits in the middle ground between film and contemporary computational digital photography. I wanted a camera that wasn’t hypermodern and glossy, nor intentionally retro. But mostly I needed a camera that fit in my pocket and this was the only one I had. The limitations of the camera forced a very specific technical approach that became the foundation of the visual language of the project. By committing to black and white in-camera and working with the camera’s limited aperture range I found that time itself seemed to become obfuscated.
DSMx is a documentation of a specific chapter of my life, a recovery process, and a way of building connection during a challenging period. Prescribed walks became a daily practice of observation and meaning-making; physically, mentally, spiritually and creatively. It is a visual journal of immense gratitude.
As of the authoring of this note, the project remains ongoing. I still take walks.
SJ 2026