In the sum­mer of 2021, my dog died. One year later, my other dog died. In bet­ween their dea­ths, I made pic­tu­res in a small, withe­ring town, just north of Chat­ta­noo­ga on the foo­thills of the Smo­ky Moun­tains in East Ten­nes­see. The­se ima­ges are an obser­va­tion of soli­tu­de, mine and my sub­jec­ts, a desi­re for per­so­nal inde­pen­den­ce paid with the pri­ce of perio­dic lone­li­ness. Ani­mals are the grea­te­st com­pa­nions, yet they can only accom­pa­ny us so far. The­se pho­to­gra­phs are a reflec­tion on our human rela­tion­ships and how pho­to­gra­phy can con­nect us to stran­gers, the pho­to­gra­phic com­mu­ni­ty, and the world.