for the love of...

'For the Love of…' is a portrait series consisting of people with whom I have or had personal relationships. These pictures are not a typology. They are not about any specific culture. The correlation is the connecting thread back to me, the photographer. The images demonstrate a shifting relationship between the subject and myself.

My process is driven by more of an intuition rather than a system. This intuition is mysterious in and of it self, but can only be linked with a sense of Love. Not love like that of a parent or lover, more like a childhood crush. What I crush on usually comes suddenly. This feeling may be triggered by my surroundings, the gesture of someone's body, or a slight change in light.

Emmet Gowin wrote, "Rarely am I tempted to speak of originality. I far prefer the formulation 'I am the origin of this work.'" Though I realize my motives and catalysts for creating these portraits may not be unique, the connection I have with the people depicted are. The images made are a testament to it.

The time spent between photographer and sitter has always been friend first, subject after. Almost all were not preempted portrait sessions. This is an important aspect of the work because there's no preconception or sense of self-consciousness on the behalf of the sitter.

There is direction on my part combined with the observations of what I’m looking at on a ground glass. Watching my subject's movement through a ground glass is an important aspect because it still leaves room for the unanticipated (which is often times negated when a view camera is introduced). Nicholas Nixon described photographing someone as, '...asking for help.' If the moment was lost within the instance of time, I will ask for help to hopefully extent that moment.

Asking to take one’s portrait is along the same lines as asking them out on a first date. The act of photographing mimics the act of dating. The realm that we exist together (portrait session) is new and unfamiliar ground.

With this idea of love and attraction, feelings of rejection and failure coincide, but for me, catharsis resonates strongest of all.