I think it started in late college, when I had a still life assignment that I found really exciting – we were instructed to photograph a q-tip – but it really took hold of me once I moved to Chicago and started working with Aleia Murawski. She has a way of elevating everyday objects and making seemingly normal things into something really crazy.

There are so many. I am always inspired by Aleia, obviously, but some people that come to mind are David Brandon Geeting, Grace Miceli, Tyler Thacker, Maisie Cousins, Nadia Lee Cohen, Corey Olsen, Arielle Bobb-Willis, etc.

I don’t think I was the first person to do this, and I won’t be the last. But I do think the combination of things at play has created something recognisable and unique to me. I'm interested in making something that doesn’t totally exist in reality, but it almost does. That line is fun to balance on.

I definitely want them to get a laugh out of it. I’m never taking any of it too seriously, although I do like to hear how people think an image was created. People really respond to the behind the scenes stuff because it’s cool to see how much actually exists, and how much doesn’t.

Yes. I will usually just pull one element from a dream that I thought would make a cool effect or mesh a few things together. Aleia and I will often bounce our dreams back and forth to make ideas/build from there. I have definitely dreamt of still lives! I have dreamt that I was tiny and wandering inside giant still lives; I have also just dreamt I was shopping for props for a still life.

She really just has a totally unique brain. Her vision is totally hers and people are intrigued by it. I swear she can make anything interesting. She is also super true to what she does and doesn’t let anyone change that. Her client work is just as strong as her personal one, which I think is so hard to do.

The hardest for us to pull off together may also have been the most fun: the heart-shaped bath tub for Bulletin New York was kind of frustrating at the time and took so much planning and buying props. Ten hours in the car, shooting till 4 am, and Aleia was totally submerged in stinky well water for most of it. But it was so rewarding and we totally love the final images that came out of it.

Aleia is the mini goddess! I only ever get the chance to work with them because of her. My hands are way too shaky for all of that. Sam Copeland (another of Aleia and my collaborators) is a really amazing artist and skilled craftsman. So a lot of the minis you see of Aleia's are a product of her and Sam’s work.

It really depends! I try to get as close to the final image as possible in the set. There are some images where all the effects are real with almost no post-production, and then there are Frankenstein images where I clip together twenty photos (because I am lazy).

Yes, absolutely! We most recently did a series for Mouthwash Magazine where we made still lives using people’s existing collections. So each photo was in some way a portrait of the objects’ owner.

We find these objects everywhere. Sometimes we'll start with one that inspires us and then go to thrift stores, online shopping, office supplies, etc. to supplement that picture. Tokyo was a gold mine for cool objects. We spent a day at Kappabashi, yes! Me, Aleia and Grace Miceli took a wax food making class and then walked up and down Kappabashi street buying resin cast foods. It was my favourite part of the trip for sure.

That’s a hard one. I don't think I have a specific favourite object but there are some things that seem to make their way into photos over and over again. Silk, smoke, eyeglasses, and computer/tablet/phone screens all come to mind. The most difficult thing for me recently was photographing air – a prompt from Ordinary Magazine. First, just figuring out how to photograph something like air was difficult, but then actually photographing the combination of light beams and bubbles all at once was a mess. But I loved the outcome of that.

Working alone is really fun because you get into a groove and it’s totally therapeutic/unedited, but I think I prefer working in a partnership. It’s way more spontaneous and I love bouncing ideas in real time, making changes and going with the flow of two ideas at the same time. The best stuff I think I've ever made has been in partnerships.

I think the checkered picnic dinner series we did for La Monda is my favourite. It was one of the first large series Aleia and I ever did and still feels very true to what we do. It also set off a lot of our future work.

Aleia and I are working on a large-scale installation/immersive room in 2019.