When
my daughter Alison was born, in the tradition of a new parent, I began
to photograph her, initially in a separate and private body of work.
However, in the process of documenting Alison's growth, I developed a
passionate interest in human relationships and capturing intimate
moments in the lives of family and friends.
This affected my
photography in a profound way. Rather than the isolated subjects of my
earlier work, I became interested in the strength of relationships,
oftentimes using personal environments to amplify those conditions.
My
photographs of Alison, because of the nature of our relationship, are
very much a father-daughter collaboration-Alison permitting me access to
private moments of our life, which might, under different
circumstances, be off-limits to a parent. The camera, early in her life,
became part of our relationship, necessitating in me an acceptance, a
quietness. We've never had long photographic sessions, but rather
moments alone or with friends.
The
significance of these pictures emerges in retrospect. I realize as I
look at them, that I created a visual life story of Alison, capturing
moments in her metamorphosis from infant to woman-her relationships with
friends, her rebellion, and underlying it all, her relationship with
me, a constant throughout her life. I wanted to photograph her in all
her extremes, and to be part of these times in her life without judging
or censoring. Only in this way would I have a true portrait of Alison.
