Higgins Beach, Scarborough, Maine, February 23, 2025

I’m drawn toward bare perspectives on road work, construction sites, and newly laid piles of the basic materials in our “built environment.” Things under construction are almost more visible than complete things. They are effectively in-motion, which attracts our eye more than what’s settled.

At the same time, there is a way to look at such things that enriches our senses, and there is a way that blunts them. Novelty is everywhere—it’s nearly a rule now. It’s easy to notice that the naked plywood of this house is different from what surrounds it. But novelty is not originality; in fact, novelty is a clichéd, intrusive tool in our time. We shouldn’t take each other captive with the use of surprise. We shouldn’t manipulate attention.