I aim to produce fine documents.
I am at heart a photojournalist, a documentarian.
Whether I am shooting a foreign capital or a local event, my primary purpose is to tell an honest story.
I have been practicing photography for over 25 years, and have cultivated a style that fits squarely in the Magnum School.
I strive to create objects that can hold up a white wall.
My goal is to create work that is compelling in its own right, standalone visual pieces that don’t require context or familiarity to achieve weight.
What you will find in my photographs are compositions that take account of the environment and not just the subject. You will see humans responding to life, and not just reacting to the camera.
Glass
I primarily shoot 35mm, which requires me to approach my subject, but still gives a sense of place that just doesn’t happen with a zoom lens. When I need to isolate the subject, I shoot the 50mm, which is the most honest lens as our eyes are also using 50mm lenses.
The greatest photographs of the 20th century were shot with these focal lengths, and by limiting myself to these two prime lens, my work gets a timeless quality that can’t be achieved with Zoom lenses.
Light
There is one more thing that I have added to my arsenal that is pretty unique, but I imagine will become more popular with documentarian photographers: handheld strobe lighting.
This isn’t a completely new idea as NYC street photographers have been doing for decades, but fast, high-power wireless strobes open up some new possibilities.
Getting the primary light feet rather than inches from the camera produces dramatic shots with the sort of shadows we use studios to build.