Blank Line Studios

Like a lot of photographers, I admire the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Extending from that, I love the work of many photojournalists both past and present.

However, the modern “street photography as fine art” movement never really captured my attention. I think because I see so much of the same thing in street photography. It became so saturated with “ironic juxtapositions” and “hey, check out what this guy is doing” that, for me, it no longer qualified as interesting art. It became voyeuristic. It became an excuse to catch people for the sake of catching them. It became long lenses and “will people notice me with this camera?”

I fell in love with street photography again when I stopped looking for pictures and just started looking.

The first few times I started walking around with my camera not hidden in my bag, I didn’t take many pictures. One, I was too timid. Two, I needed to see without the lens before I could shoot through it. I needed to see the world, not pictures.

Soon, I began to see. Sometimes the image is obvious…right in front of my face. Other times, I have to be patient and wait for it to come to me.

With my art, I want to record the world the way I see it. In order to do that…I have to look at it through my own eyes.