The subjects of my photographs have temporarily died and come back to life. These survivors of death have had what are known as “Near Death Experiences (NDE),” during which people have strange and incredible experiences and perhaps have been on the threshold of 'the afterlife,' took a look around, came back to life and returned to our world.

(more involved description here): “Near Death Experiences (NDE),” is a term coined by psychologist Dr. Raymond Moody in the 1970’s. During an NDE people have strange and incredible experiences they have trouble putting into words. They recall feelings of awe and peace that remain with them throughout their lives. These experiences are remembered to be very real – as something that actually happened – not a dream or cloudy memory.
My subjects have seen glimpses of what some call 'the afterlife.' They have been to a place that is perhaps only slightly beyond the reach of our conscious waking experience. A place that may exist all around us and maybe we are all a part of, but are unable to see, touch or observe like we do all other things in our physical world.
Can we prove that these experiences were real? Perhaps we could if we did not have to use scientific methods that rely on physical observations. There are no physical observations available in the world of Near Death Experiences. But just because we can’t prove their existence doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. As one of my subjects, Molly, stated, when talking about her experience of being dead, “It’s not nothingness. I can’t prove that, but I can’t prove that I’m here either.” It seems that a lot is riding on the term ‘prove.’ What exactly is ‘prove’ referring to? In our society it refers to a proof, which is a rational scientific way of thinking.
Scientific thought was created by our minds to negotiate the finite world in which we operate on a daily basis. But what about the infinite world of space and time that lies outside of our understanding? What about those aspects of the mind that we don’t understand, like feelings, intuition, deja-vu and dreams? We should consider that science, which was created by us, mortal beings living in an infinite world, may be too simple a tool to understand all aspects of the world.
Perhaps we should explore research methods that aren’t based on physical observations and rational proofs. We may then be able to make serious progress in understanding those aspects of our lives that are pushed to the side of mainstream society. These parts of our lives are lumped into categories such as ‘para-normal’ because they can’t be understood in the mainstream context of rational scientific thought.