As far back as I can remember I wanted to be an artist even when I didn't know it. I grew up in New Jersey and have fond memories of vacations spent at the shore. My sister and I would hunt endlessly for sea-glass and shells. But the main attraction was the ocean. Powerful, serene, mid-night blue or gunmetal grey it was all those things and more. Floating out on my raft, I distinctly remember being tossed by a wave and sinking down as if in slow motion. My feet up where my head should be and feeling the sheer whoosh of water rushing in around me it was terrifying but compelling, frightening yet strangely captivating. That experience of inside/outside, the surface and what lies beneath, of powerful physical forces made a deep and lasting impression.
I am the eldest of six children and the first in my family to go to college, majoring in Philosophy and Sociology. It was after earning a MA in Sociology that I began to feel that this was not my path in life. I discovered the very commonplace activity of making a photograph leads to discussions of time and space; perception and meaning; process and idea - that which fascinated me in my college studies. While working as the photographer for Geological Sciences at Cornell, I had the opportunity to discuss my work with John Szarkowski (A.D. White lecture). It remains memorable to me as we talked about formal properties of image making (especially the space within an image) as well as metaphor and developing the medium itself.
