photo 1

with robert rosenheck (u. penn), fall 98

photography is an amazing art... it's half about what the world really looks like, what's out there and beautiful, and half about what you see and how you see it, what you can capture and show to others, some bit of your own dreams. when giving us advice about how to take portraits of people, the prof smiled and said, it's kinda like you're privileged somehow to see some intimate moment, something private or secret. i think in a way any picture you take is also exposing a piece of yourself.

no matter how much you may think you're merely portraying reality, every picture is at least twice filtered... framed and seperated from the rest of the scene, then developed with an eye toward expression that may change the subject completely. still, what is a photo without the world that inspires it and fills it? it's tempting to want to just travel everywhere, steal a shot or two, then run off to the next extraordinary locality... "that's beautiful... click. next" but that will get you only so far. it's all in what you see around you, not only the rare moments but the everyday ones. without getting too philosophical, finding beauty in a familiar face is a great thing.

i'd like to think i have an eye for this stuff... my entire family is a bunch of photographers. my grandfather taught me one of my first economic lessons by reminding me "it's fifty cents a photo, you know..." my uncles are both pros, and my mom ain't half bad at it either. it's all about seeing the world as beautiful or rish in some way, and wanting to share that with people.

here's a few of mine...