My journey in photography began when I was 19 and became a US Navy photographer aboard the USS Eisenhower. That really started everything for me. I’ve been photographing people ever since. I've been highly influenced stylistically by the photographers August Sander, Henri Cartier Bresson, Sebastio Salgado, and particularly Richard Avedon.

But the thing that has probably shaped me most is that I’ve also kept a journal every single day since 1986. I’ve never missed a day. Over the years, photography and writing have become pretty inseparable for me. My current project, Who We Are, brings those two things together. I make a black-and-white portrait of someone and then ask them to write something in their own handwriting about what’s really going on in their life. I’m interested in ordinary people and the things we usually don’t get to see. In my current project, the act of physically writing is just as important as the photograph. 

Slowing down the process- Nowadays, photography has become very transactional. You meet somebody, make a picture, and move on to the next person. Digital photography naturally operates this way. 

With Who We Are, I try to give people enough time to actually think about what they want to say. We are already communicating about what they might share, while I am making their portrait. Sometimes the best part of the process is sitting there quietly while somebody writes. You don’t know what they’re going to put on the page. You just have to wait. And when the process is over and the pen is put down, I feel as if I am receiving an absolutely unique, tangible artifact from each person, because I am.