I took this photo as part of a series on abandoned/discarded things that represent more than just junk in the landscape, but lives once lived with them. As I come to terms with the limited time I have left due to heart failure, I have struggled with the idea that I myself might leave behind nothing more than garbage when I pass. So, I decided to try to create a body of work that documents the kinds of legacies people leave when they don't take intentional steps to ensure such legacies are more than just old things that tell nothing of their stories and their time on Earth. I am using these photos to make large platinum-palladium prints.

I created this image with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR and a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG Art lens at f/1.4, 1/4000 second, and ISO 100. It was overcast, cold, and dreary this day, with damp dirt from recent rain that required me to get muddy as I lay flat on the ground to photograph a broken toilet someone dumped in a field next to a local highway, with the surrounding landscape having been clear-cut by a lumber company. The sheer desolation of the scene and the resulting image was marginally challenging to photograph, but it has proven to be considerably more challenging to stomach on an emotional level with all of the baggage that's attached to it.