In May 2009 I began to experiment with arranging and categorizing all the booty. The real problem that I was faced with was what to do with it all. I began to assemble the objects in various configurations and then to photograph it. That experimentation led to these photographs which were taken in August 2009.

Since 2006 I have been collecting beach trash on my morning walks in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

That first day was the morning after a fierce storm and the beach was littered with all sorts of plastic trash. I gathered up as much as I could

and dragged it along with the intention of disposing of it properly.

Once I got it home it sat there for a few days. Then I began to gather more.

The refuse seemed to take on a special significance once in another context... all these objects; lost, tossed and calcified...they took on a forlorn yet covetable meaning. The collection grew but there was not any clear use for it at the time.