The American Riviera, derived from the French Riviera, is the idyllic name given to the place where I grew up in California: Santa Barbara. The project highlights many of the places I’ve taken for granted while growing up. Many nearby residents have fought to protect these places for themselves rather than open these places up for all to enjoy. As a lifelong resident it seems I was always put in the position of protecting theses ideals of eternal beauty for the few that seem so associated with California. Two years after moving away, I am now able to show these places with objectivity while combating sentimentality.

By choosing to avoid the use of a wide-angle lens, I avoid some of the clichés of landscape photography in order to narrow my perspective of the separate elements I’m looking at. Oftentimes images are obfuscated with a layer of fog, haze, or foliage and in some cases are intentionally destroyed in order to question the pervasiveness of this beauty.