Out From The Shadow is an ongoing series of photographs of recording artists and cultural veterans that I loved growing up, people whose art moved me before I had any real cultural awareness or knowledge their lives. There’s an emotional commonality I have always sensed in their work and, over time, reading their stories, I have come to see a thread that I believe connects these artists, something that I perceive as the driving force behind what makes their music so profound. That thread is an unshakable resolve in overcoming obstacles, either in youth or in adulthood, and essaying them in the process of establishing an identity, and ultimately a career. It might be overwhelming shyness or insecurity, emotional or physical, race or background. Or it could simply be a refusal to compromise their goals. It’s the process of engaging with these obstacles that creates a strength of character and informs their work. It’s the boldness of the human condition that interests me, and what I want to capture in these portraits.