I was "commissioned" by close friends of my family to take a portrait of their twin girls. I did not want to create another cliche or a derivative of a Diane Arbus image of twins. Considering this portrait would be a gift to our friends, I was looking to add my own "signature" to the image. In hindsight, I realized that the idea for this image was not the safest to setup. However, one of the girls agreed to my suggestion of hanging upside down from the monkey bars. And so "Whimsy" was created. (The image won first place at The Art Guild in New York.)
Simplicity best describes my approach to photography. I like to communicate my ideas with a minimum number of elements. Aesthetically, I prefer images taken on film. I shoot mostly in black and white because it allows me to concentrate on shape, texture, tone, and contrast to create abstract images. My favorite subjects are those that may not be obvious to others; many common objects can provide great compositional possibilities. I prefer to use a simple camera and one or two prime lenses so that I can focus my attention on capturing the image at hand.
