Interview with the Artist

1. Where and when was your first Gallery showing?

August 2000 at Jules Place in Boston MA. I had shown at larger group shows that were juried but this was really my first showcase.

2. What was your motivation or inspiration to pursue Photography?

My motivation for this show came out of frustration in what I was shooting at the time and a need to find my creative edge again. The trip was to jump-start the basic need to just take pictures. No stylist, no art directors, no models, and no deadlines, just a camera, tripod and film. I immediately found my surrounding and the people my inspiration. I slowed down and looked.

If your asking about how I started the pursuit of my trip into photography, I started out in painting and drawing and found it wasn’t immediate enough. In college I found myself in front of easel in a room. I was drawing very photo realistically and I remember a professor telling me,” Everyone can learn to draw, not everyone can learn to see. Try photography”. I switched from the easel to the camera and that was it. I had working to draw exactly what I saw in a very photographic way, why not go that extra step and that was it.

3. How has your work evolved from that first show?

I have much more control over what I do. I think I can see clearer and just have more confidence in what I shoot.

4. Who or what has been an influence in your photography?

I look at alot of different things. I look at fashion magazines, travel books, see photo shows and even technology in my field has allowed me to open up and see what's out there even more and I think all of it molds a person to see a certain way. As for photographers that I’m drawn to, Steven Meisel, Sebastiao Salgado, Richard Avedon, Sally Mann.

5. What is visually inspiring or important to you now?

The light. The quality of it, the intensity of it. I can be shooting anything and what's most important is the quality of my light.

6. Is there any specific work or artist that you feel is particularly evocative?

I have a wall of tearsheets in my studio that I walk by everyday and each images is evocative to me. I see perfect light on a face by Robert Maxwell. I see a great technique done on green beans by Charles Jones. I see a raw out of focus snapshot of 2 people kissing by Steven Meisel. I see a fun spontaneous shot of kids by Peggy Sirota. All are evocative to me. All of them speak something to me. Isn’t that all that matters. A photograph has to say something.

7. In what direction do you feel your work is moving, or where would you like to go?

I want to connect more with what I’m shooting. find the emotion behind the shot so I can make the viewer respond. As for where I’d like to go, I want to go back to Italy, that trip changed my life.

8. What is your most memorable experience in photography?

This 6 week trip to Italy. The color, smells, architecture, people, food, they all found their way into my work.