These collections of photographs are drawn from my work over the last twenty five years. Until recently, I was what I would call an enthusiast. To be sure, I had central concerns and I developed a few themes. But I tended to work opportunistically to capture what I found intriguing in my surroundings—often post industrial American cities. It is ironic that most of this work was what I call “tripod photography”, laboriously created with a view camera and large format film. I was and am deeply moved by the work of the famous (and famously precise) Düsseldorf school of photography, in particular its progenitors the Bechers and their student Thomas Struth. The work of my friend Michael Collins was also an important influence. Creating this digital archive of my work presented a welcome opportunity to retrospectively find the projects buried in my peripatetic photography. Certainly an interest in the gloriously mundane American built environment is prominent. I am surprised by the extent to which these projects are apparent to me now.
The most recent collection, Working spaces, departs from the pattern described above. It is a project with concrete goals, requiring substantial collaboration with the owners of the spaces depicted. The images depict the trappings of both art and craftsmanship in the work environments of artists and artisans. I have often focused on tools, and I also present the work outside the context of formal display. One of the outcomes of this project has been to demystify art, in part by taking the product away from curation, and in part by collapsing the distinction between artists and artisans. As a documentarian, I feel some pride of authorship. If the resulting images are beautiful, it is because the spaces are beautiful, but I hope that I have contributed to beauty as well.