Conversations
This body of work stems from a project I began 25 years ago when I was taking black and white portraits of friends and neighbors with a medium format film camera. What I always felt lacking back then, which lead me to this project, is the conversations that would go on while I was photographing, and the loss I felt knowing that while there was a record of the person’s image, there was no record of the conversation.
I am now completing what I began 25 years ago, using the same film camera, but this time bringing a digital audio recorder to capture the banter that goes on during the 45 minutes that I spend with a subject. I then edit this to a one- to three-minute audio recording that adds additional character information to support the visual image, which must still stand by itself without the recording. For this project particularly, I am interested in the rich tones and textures that are caught on film and can be only be shown in an actual physical print.
I look for people whom I feel can be open and relaxed with me while in front of a camera. There is a space between a smile and a deadpan expression that I look for—a moment of expressive reflection. Creating space for this moment is the hard part. I only shoot indoors with available light, preferably in the subject’s home.
My interests in photography are broad but I have always loved portraiture. August Sander, Michael Disfarmer, and Richard Avedon are portrait photographers who have influenced my work and they have demonstrated the power of portraiture to create an important personal and social statement.
Regardless if my work is portraiture or documentary, my interest in a photograph, or any piece of art, begins with the graphic integrity of the work and then moves onto the larger message. My life’s work, whether in art, design, or politics, is to reclaim how these threads of meaning connect to a larger social and historical context.
