Maya Pegues (M.F.A. Motion Media)

A Swan’s Lake emerged from a quiet need to reconnect—with nature, and with myself. In a time that felt loud and overwhelming, I turned to the subtle rhythms of the natural world: the sway of trees, the patterns in the breeze, the stillness that invites you to breathe more deeply. Creating this piece became less about output and more about restoration.

Through that process, I found a sense of relief and clarity that had been missing. It opened a new creative path—one where I felt more honest, more grounded, and more in tune with my own voice after a long period of feeling stagnant. A Swan’s Lake represents that turning point: a moment of returning, listening, and allowing something real to surface.

If there’s anything to take from it, it’s this: step outside, slow down, and let nature meet you where you are. Sometimes, that’s where everything begins again.

Kaitlyn Mitchell (B.F.A. Photography)

I have always been drawn to the way humans and nature intersect, especially how the natural world quietly reclaims the objects and spaces we leave behind. This curiosity shaped a series that visits quiet, forgotten places where man made structures are being slowly overtaken by vines, moss, and rust. 

There is a stillness in these sites that feels as if time has paused, as if you have stepped into a post-apocalyptic landscape where people once lived and only their traces remain. Most passersby overlook these scenes, yet they speak loudly about change, neglect, and how quickly our presence can fade. I photograph each location using only natural light, allowing the sun and shadows to preserve the raw, untouched quality of the moment, as if the space is frozen exactly as nature left it. 

Through this work, I hope viewers will slow down, feel the quiet discomfort of impermanence, and reflect on how temporary our marks are while the earth patiently takes them back, whether we abandon them intentionally or not.