Here there (everywhere?)

Patrick Kelley is a genius.
I went to one of his lectures last year or the year before, and I remember that as I left with jaw hanging open all I could think was, "he's a genius." I was really impressed with the concepts that fueled his art and his use of tons of different elements that make us (humans) think and feel and respond.
I didn't leave this lecture with the exact same thought, but still maybe an unhinged jaw. (That's not to say I don't still think he's genius.) This set of work really captured my attention and drew me in with both content and presentation. The images are visually stunning and, at least for me, pulled at some heartstrings that are usually pulled only through personal experience with nature. With nature photography I'm often a little disappointed because I don't necessarily think that a photographer or painter deserves credit for capturing a beautiful scene, it's not beautiful because of the way they took the picture and it's not beautiful because they took the picture (I don't always feel this way/I do give a lot of credit to nature photographers and partake in it myself). However, Kelley brought a new element to the scene and made it more than just a landscape. I really really liked it.
From his talk and viewing the work I started wondering how he qualifies success and failure in his work. So much goes into his pieces and it seems like he expects his audience to put in a little bit too, so I wonder if he is satisfied as long as it is well received, whether or not people "get it." With my own work when I'm trying to "say something" specific I sometimes get lost in trying to be to specific/obvious or too cryptic, and I haven't yet identified my boundaries of success and failure. But I also think that's ok.
Kelley's work as made feel a little bit more open minded about using technology. Sometimes when everything gets taken out of the darkroom it looks and feels less like photography, but this proved to me it's all about how and what you do. He captured in the trees what there was to capture and then emphasized it.