A behind the scenes look at the making of Fractured Reality.
Fractured Reality is a fine art, surreal, fantasy series that tells the story of a girl named Nem. For much of her life, she was spared from the hurt, trauma and grief of this world. Then, suddenly, everything changed. This allegorical narrative follows Nem through tragedy, trauma, grief, preservation, resilience, and ultimately, transformation.
It’s a story born from my own journey, where the bubble I lived in burst wide open, and life as I knew it was never the same again. My personal experiences with a cancer diagnosis and divorce inspired and mirror Nem’s sojourn. Much of the nature photography utilized to create the series was captured during the time period of my own battles.
I approached this series in the same way I would a film. With my wife, Emily, as producer, we wrote the script for the different story elements and arc that Nem would travel through. I shot thousands of photographs to create the world. We put together test templates as a storyboard, then hired Halle Martin, a singer/songwriter to portray Nem. We spent three days in a studio testing the best way to capture what we needed. Then, a day photographing Halle with a variety of emotions and poses that would best serve Nem’s journey.
After we captured what we needed, I focused on post production, compiling, blending, painting, and photoshopping each artwork into the final piece. After milestone markers, we did “screenings” to gather notes. Back and forth for 1 1/2 years, Fractured Reality came to life.
My hope is that Nem’s story of struggle and survival is relatable in some unique way. Often, we are powerless with what life throws at us, but we do have the power to choose how we respond.
*On February 14, 2025, Fractured Reality was inscribed on Block 883,828 as the Sixth-largest inscription on Bitcoin and the largest ever on a Block 9 Sat at 3.969 MB!
Chapter One: Floating through Life – I’m fine. I’m fine. I. am. fine. (If I say it enough times, maybe it’ll be true.)
Chapter Two: Last Rites – Something was off. The edges of my world didn’t line up. I couldn’t name it—couldn’t pin it down—but I felt it. It wasn’t until the moment of impact—the discovery—that the truth tore through me. Divorce. Fallout. A life rewritten without my consent ensued. But, for that uncomfortable stretch of time—the between—there was blind, unknown agony residing in the pit of my soul.
Chapter Three: In The Throes – The words seared through me. “How quickly can you be in surgery?” The world kept moving, but I didn’t. I was frozen in that moment, suspended between a before I no longer had and an after I couldn’t yet grasp. The surgeries, the pain, the routine of it all—rinse and repeat. The years ahead would change me. But in that instant, I was blind to the storm that was already swallowing me whole.
Chapter Four: Panic – I was still—physically. But inside, everything was breaking. The conversation happened around me, not to me. I could hear my partner’s voice—words I never imagined—but the panic sirens inside my head made them unintelligible. Thirteen. Thirteen years. Gone.
Chapter Five: Shattered – They cut me open. Not enough meds. I screamed, but the pain didn’t stop. Again. Not enough meds. It didn’t stop.
Chapter Six: Collateral Damage – My world didn’t just fall apart. It was taken apart. Piece by piece. Friends—gone. Finances—gone. Shelter—gone. Even my dog—mine, but not mine. Loss after loss, until nothing remained but the hollow space where my life had been.
Chapter Seven: Into the Abyss – Some falls have a bottom. Mine didn’t. It just kept going.
Chapter Eight: Dead Inside – The call. The message. Doctors don’t leave vague messages like that. Was the cancer back? This time, I’d face it alone. Or maybe I always had been. The first surgery—I drove myself. Afterwards, I drove home—scarred, in shock. Threw up in a parking lot, waiting for meds—alone. Alone. Maybe I always was.
Chapter Nine: Consumed – The web tightened. The strands connected. The cancer. The fear. The isolation. The betrayal. The broken dreams. The grief. The divorce. It was all linked. And I was suffocating beneath it.
Chapter Ten: Awakening – To understand, I had to face what nearly killed me. I was blind. But now I see. I was always alone. I always had the cancer. What is, was.
Chapter Eleven: Letting Go – There’s no shortcut through grief. No easy way out of pain. There’s only one way forward—through the center of it. To look within. To be honest. To finally see the truth that had always been there.
Chapter Twelve: Breakthrough – You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Chapter Thirteen: A New World – The world was bigger than I ever imagined. The horizon stretched farther than I’d ever seen. Had everything happened, and I was standing quietly now in the new life?
Chapter Fourteen: Momentum – Life is worth living. But you have to step forward. One step. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be certain. But it has to be yours.
Chapter Fifteen: Survivor – Only in hindsight can you see the scars. They don’t mark weakness. They mark survival. The path wasn’t one I chose. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But it was mine. And I survived.
Chapter Sixteen: The New You – You decide.