Excerpt images from the series Guilty Plea­sures. 

Guilty Plea­sures locates our need to find solace and pur­sue hap­pi­ness. Guilty not as a form of per­sonal judge­ment but in terms of the nar­cis­sis­tic human need to seek per­sonal com­fort. Win­ter presents an unwel­com­ing world out­side, push­ing us towards a bleak con­fine­ment. We go inward in our lives, psy­ches and homes in order to con­sole our­selves. This project was pho­tographed in Syra­cuse NY dur­ing a nearly record-breaking win­ter of snow fall. Being inside can build a manic state with the snow accu­mu­lat­ing out­side. A her­metic wold of friends serves as a self por­trait and a doc­u­ment of winter.

Jay is a good friend of mine from grad­u­ate school and is cur­rently com­plet­ing his last year in the MFA Pho­tog­ra­phy pro­gram at Syra­cuse Uni­ver­sity. Jay’s images imme­di­ately bring me back to New York and the relent­less win­ter months that take up most of the year, but also inspire out­landish ideas. I remem­ber Jay work­ing on this series at ran­dom times, dur­ing snow­storms and trips to get Indian food. Glad to see it all online. Check out the rest of Guilty Plea­sures and Jay’s work here.