New York has always been a “dream” city where one can come to explore and find oneself. It has a rich counterculture history in politics, art, literature, and music. Personal style and fashion has always been an integral part of that.
I am drawn to this last aspect. Personal style and fashion expresses itself in clothes, hairstyle and hair coloring, makeup, tattoos and piercings, gender non-conformity, and a million little flourishes and accents. It clearly is not accidental. A lot of thought goes into how one presents oneself day to day. It can be very creative and artistic, and sometimes quite humorous. There is an irresistible youthful energy to it all.
Almost all my portraits are collaborative. I rarely pose my subjects. It might take a shot or two for them to relax and connect with me so that they can shine through—in their eyes, their expression, their pose. When they relax into their beautiful selves, if I’m lucky, I can capture this in an image.
