My pursuit of photography began about seven years prior to purchasing my first camera. While in high school I became enamored with the photographic image. I tore them out of old and new magazines and bought photo postcards and greeting cards from bookstores and magazine stands to adorn every inch of my bedroom walls. I literally surrounded myself with photographs.
Most of these images were from the era of black and white photography. A lot of them were of jazz musicians, Black historical figures, ethnographic images of various cultures and societies in the African
Diaspora, artistic portraits and still lifes. The mystique of black and white captured me and seems to create in each image something greater than the representation of its subject.
I always loved listening to good stories, especially those told by older people in my life, things I read in books, and events I learned about in documentaries and history texts. As a child these stories from times prior to my birth seemed like they took place in a world beyond my reach. Old black and white photos seemed to be relics of those untouchable realms in time and space. In a way they were magical, almost talismans bringing life and power to the stories that filled my imagination.
I probably started collecting photos in 1985/86. I studied these images incessantly, meditating on every aspect of them. Over time I began to pay attention to the ways light, shadow, composition, and form shaped my experience of the subject.
