my inspiration (or how it all began)

                                                    My grandmother, circa 1937

                                             My grandfather, Arkansas, sometime in the early 30's.


                                my mother, her grandfather, and my grandmother. 1938


                                        My Mother is in the foreground, with sisters, friends (I think neighbors). 1947


Little Rock, my mother is in the middle with her dog, my aunts on either side with my grandparents.

Some people ask me why it is I started wanting to photograph people. Growing up, our apartment in New York City, the walls were covered with pictures on every wall, in every corner of the house, the hallways were lined with these old black and white portraits, (long, long hallways, if you have ever seen a pre-war apartment in New York City you know what I am talking about). I loved looking at the black and white images. Of course every picture tells a story, but for me it wasn't just the story, it was the fact that these images always made me want to know what the conversations were, and I loved that very few of them were posed, or staged. They seemed of the moment, and candid, before it was a catch phrase. Both my grandfathers were amateur photographers. My paternal grandfather; more serious about his art, he was a painter, a photographer, and a furniture designer. I was sorry I never knew him. I do know him through his art,which hangs in my home studio today. My Maternal grandfather is the one who taught me about cameras. The first camera I played with was his old Pentex, and I still have it. These images , what we now call, "lifestyle" photographs, are my inspiration. I chose the few that spoke to me (or that I already had scanned). My grandfather (except for the few he was in) took all these pictures. I think my great grandfather (pictured) took the rest.