My goal as a photographer is simple: I want to show the extraordinary within the ordinary. My photographs aim to help the viewer pay attention to common objects in our environment—nearly dead grocery store tulips, a playful statuette, a teapot—by isolating these things and revealing their essence. Because of my interest in capturing objects-as-they-are, I do very little digital manipulation of the image. Everything in the image is physically present at the moment of capture; nothing is Photoshopped in, nor has there been any retouching of the objects. By seeing the things that surround us every day in a new way, we experience a (re)connection with them. This connection, grounded in aesthetics and meaning, is directly counter to meaningless consumer consumption. It changes our relationship to the material world to include an ethic of wonder and care.