Summertime in Syracuse

Unitled (Tree Mural) 2004 © Nathan Lyons

I have been working long hours of late putting the finishing touches on my Domesticated book. Lots of last minute tweaks and edits, minor revisions and tons of back and forth with the designer. It's pretty stressful stuff, but I am feeling really good about the final product and the extra time I spent sweating the details.

Naturally, after you finish with one laborious and mentally taxing process you immediately begin to think of doing it again, right? Maybe I'm just a masochist, but I can't wait to start on a book for my Stranded series. Fortunately for me I will have a great opportunity to do just that once Summer finally shines it's way on to the scene.

A couple of months ago I received a letter of invitation from Light Work to be their Artist-in-Residence for June. If you are not familiar with the program you should get acquainted and apply because it is the probably the best artist-in-residency photography program in the US. Past Artists-in-Residence have included Joel Sternfeld, Cindy Sherman, Andrea Modica, Nathan Lyons, Carrie Mae Weems, Angelika Rinnhofer, Alessandra Sanguinetti and Hank Willis Thomas, so you know this is a top notch affair. It's a wonderful honor and I'm very grateful to the generous Doug Dubois for pushing me to apply.

The month-long Light Work residency includes a $4,000 stipend, an apartment to stay in, a private darkroom, an assistant and 24-hour access to their world class facilities at the Robert B. Menschel Media Center at Syracuse University. For a full month you have the luxury of time and access to completely focus on your work.

I can't wait to get up there and start making a ton of new prints.