Influences

I work in the tradition of Walker Evans, the great American documentary photographer, and August Sander, the great German documentary portraitist of the turn of the last century. Evans got his start working for Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), during the great depression. His document, created with a handful of other diligent photographers, constitutes the most complete record of American life ever made. These photographs of the public, often rural and poor subjects who had little money, to this day are archived for the public in the Library of Congress, one of the greatest gifts of The New Deal.

August Sander worked in a Germany of smaller city-states during the Weimar Republic. He worked at a time when the photographer of a village was the sole bearer of the magical, image-producing technology. His self-assigned life’s work was to photograph “types” of people. His impossible goal: to achieve complete documentation of all types in Germanic society. Sander’s trademarks are his terse portrait titles, “The Tycoon,” “The Bohemian,” and “The Bricklayer” are some examples. Aside from the obvious drawback of limiting portraiture to stereotypes, his work did embrace his subjects on their own terms instead of changing them to look good in pictures. This type of honesty in photography I admire.

The Work

I find my interests in society and people. As a social documentarian I have consistently found in the public compelling examples of human striving. Seven years in New York City has provided a unique opportunity to work deep within a variety of American cultures. My work has, and will always, be an examination of people in relation to their place (context). New York, much in the same way I consider Maine, is a condition which forms and instructs the inhabitants. Survival is key, and many rules of survival are inflexible. It is in these difficult circumstances that I find compelling the perseverance of the human spirit.

While much of American life has eliminated many of these elements, my belief is that adversity reflects a timeless human condition which can never be eliminated. This condition is fundamental to the heights of true joy, and it is the spirits enmeshed in this intense daily drama I choose to celebrate over celebrities.

In the following list, it should become clear I have more than a latent interest in the relationship between Black and White America, which is only another way of saying Poor and Wealthy America. I believe there is a great misunderstanding, fueled by a largely unresolved history and a lack of true progress for people severely depressed by a very immobile, monetarily constricted ghetto reality.

Of course, my perspective has been heavily informed by my seven year context: As a white boy from Maine in a small buffer (Prospect Heights) between a growing zone of White gentrification (Park Slope) and a massive, and massively depressed, Black neighborhood (Crown Heights), I began to seriously consider what each people have to offer the whole of American society. I learned people survive and persevere in situations of injustice which exist beyond all reckoning. The ablity to accept facts of life unimaginable to most of White America and move on (or not) most impresses and moves me. To this end I independently produced and, with the help of credit debt, financed the following documentary projects:

Independently Produced Projects, 2000-2003

2000 Sunday Best; Formal portraits of Brooklyn residents dressed for church

2001 Rodeo; The Federation of Black Cowboys 2001 Rodeo at 86^th and Conduit, Brooklyn
Lumber Show; Reportage of The Great Maine Lumberjack Show in Trenton, Maine
9/17/01: Wall Street Goes Back to Work; Portraits of financial employees emerging from the Wall Street 2/3 Train station on the first day back to work since 9/11
Brooklyn Ferry; Commuter portraits and landscape of a supplemental passenger ferry from 59^th Street, Brooklyn to Battery Park, Manhattan
White X-Mas; Digital photo narrative of a road trip from New York to Bangor, Maine and back with text examining the country/city dichotomy

2002 Transportation Suite; A return to dramatic landscape after six years focusing exclusively on people, the project hinged on key transportation spots around NY beginning with train yards and depot at Coney Island’s Stillwell Avenue continuing with Williamsburg Bridge (group showing, Brooklyn, 2003), Staten Island Ferry and various elements of NY infrastructure custom color printed by TRB to 20x30”, 30x40” avail.
Hair Show; Behind the scenes documentary and portraits of Dynasty’s Big Hair Show Bash at The Lab on Fulton Avenue, Brooklyn
Dollar Van; Profile of alternative public transport on Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn commissioned by The Fader magazine as a Feature Photo story
People of Preakness; Candid portraits of a cross section of Americans exiting the Pimlico Race Track facility following the Triple Crown race
Man Wary; B&W environmental portraits of neighborhood ‘fixture’ shown as a series of ten sequential ‘in action’ portraits at a neighborhood bar

2003 Fashion Show; Behind the scenes documentary and portraits at Prince Knight’s Fashion Extravaganza at Lincoln HS, Coney Island, Brooklyn; the young models Prince Knight recruited from New York projects
Broken Valley; Sunday Best included a studio, artificial lighting and color film, Broken Valley emerged as my own response: sympathetic B&W portraits of inhabitants of Brooklyn as they exist environmentally