Artist's Statement
"Small crinkled edged black and white photos of Europe filled albums and boxes in my home when I was growing up. They were the product of my father's work with a Leica III camera in various refugee centers after WWII. These simple pictures represented the world from which I came, and were very special to me. The look and feel of those photos as well as the 35 mm photojournalism of the 40's and 50's continue to influence my 'through-the-lens' vision today. Although my work is frequently pictorial, I love to emulate the style of masters like Cartier-Bresson, Eisenstaedt, Capa, and Kértész as they capture 'the decisive moment'. Whenever and wherever I travel, the images I record and subsequently transform into artwork are often my most precious souvenirs. Thoreau once wrote that he could not fully appreciate the beauty of a nature scene without composing poetry to reflect his impressions. For me, I do not fully savor what I encounter while traveling until my vision, or 'the moment' is esthetically transferred to film. Whether here or abroad, I strive to record what may be the ordinary, but attempt to present it as extraordinary."