Adulthood isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. A photo series about playing, dreaming and not being sensible.
Who wants to be a grown up? Nobody, I tell you! Why has it become accepted thought that taking on career, family or other responsibilities means it’s time to dismiss childish things? Playing and being an adult are not mutually exclusive.
Check out the series as it’s featured on the Dodho Magazine website.
“Living in the meaningless void of day-to-day business“, author Charles Willeford
Sometimes adults get stuck in a rut going about their daily routine of completing tasks and meeting deadlines and forget to play. Forget to dream, to fantasize. The woman in this story dares to take a chance. Living your dream is scary. It’s easier to not do it. No one will criticize you for not doing something only you knew you wanted to do. She takes a risk, puts on the outfit, and breaks free of her doldrums and feels alive again.
Exhibitions and Awards
- Fine Art Photography Awards 2026, Fashion 2nd Place
- Muse Photography Awards 2026, Winner Fashion Editorial
- Featured in Dodho Magazine 2026 online version
I seem to be always drawn toward the same story: one with a huge obstacle between reality and reaching one’s dreams. Where one’s lifelong conditioning that what others’ want of you, is more important than what you want. Where living up to others’ expectations clashes with the desire to live the life you want and to be the person you’re meant to be. As seen from the outside world, stories about normal people with normal lives desperate for change. Stories where the main character’s struggle to break free of their mental chains is a matter of life or death.
I suppose a part of my interest in stories like this where people struggle to live their life on their own terms comes from growing up in the midwest of the United States. More often than not, expressing oneself is considered either “opinionated”, boasting or being a “ham”. In the midwest, the only acceptable form of expression is humor, and it’s usually at the subject’s expense. Criticizing is a favorite pastime. Dreams get squashed there.
I went with model and actress Hilary Hart to a funky costume and vintage shop in Burbank with the idea of picking out some kind of wardrobe and then designing the whole shoot around it. When Hillary and I saw the giant white wig headpiece, the sequined dress and satin gloves on a mannequin, a story immediately emerged. All we needed to add to the look was some jewelry. I identified with the woman that would wear this. It was a dream, a chance to dare.
What was fun for me on this shoot was the fact that the theme completely developed from the wardrobe. I had no preconceived idea or concept in mind prior to discovering the look.
My normal way of working is to come up with a concept, a theme and then go about finding the elements to execute it – the actor or model, wardrobe, location, props, etc. But this was a new way for me to work: find wardrobe first and create a story and theme around it.