Black and white photographs and television news have been the parallel paths of my career. Life and Time magazines revealed to me the power of black and white location reporting. I recognized the by-lines of their great photographers. In college I discovered that black and white photographs could also be an art form; it was a revelation. I moved to New York City and worked in the studios of WNET (PBS), directing news and public affairs programs such as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and Bill Moyers Journal. As a director of live programs I sharpened my skills at observation, quick movement of cameras, and reaction shots of guests in multiple person interviews. On the streets of New York City I shot TriX film with a 35mm camera, and applied the knowledge of television directing: put the camera in the right place, observe, and react quickly. I studied the work of Ansel Adams, Atget, Cartier-Bresson and André Kertèsz.
Today, I shoot digital color as well as black and white film, but the instincts of the street photographer apply to all I do. I have created my own way of seeing.
