Becoming a photographer
I was trained as a graphic designer at Yale in the 1960’s and thirty years later turned to photography.
To this new discipline I brought a rather formal background in two-dimensional design, color, typography
and the crafts associated with the design profession at midcentury, including bookbinding, calligraphy,
drafting, papermaking and, of course, photography. Walker Evans was the photography professor in my
second year of graduate study. His influence on me grew over time as I had a chance to know him,
enjoy his humor and wit, and become increasingly familiar with his explorations of the vernacular and
the commonplace.
An interest in horticulture and garden design led me back to photography in the early 1990’s. It was then,
with great surprise, that I discovered the ability to communicate emotion and personal sensibilities
in my pictures. I found, hiding within photography’s apparent façade of fact, an emotionally charged and
expressive medium. And, at this moment in time, realizing that my view and my feelings could be made
tangible, I committed myself to becoming a photographer.