Adapted from the preface: “Monkey see, monkey do, everything I say sticks twice on you.”
When first asked by Markus Schaden to make a photographic piece based on a book (or a magazine or some such thing with images in it) that had influenced my artistic development, many possibilities came to mind. His question reminded me that there was, and is, a long line of progenitors I could easily pay homage to. When it came time to scrutinized my work more closely, I realized influences ran much deeper than I previously imagined or wanted to believe. There wasn’t a “hand of influence” touching my work a little here and a little there. No, I noticed many lines of influence streaming through my work. It was quite evident.
When we share images, we share a certain vision—a particular perspective—a way of seeing—both literally and figuratively. But when I show you my pictures, it's not just my vision I'm sharing, for my way of seeing is not uniquely my own. And I realize now there is no way it could be or should be. When we experience an image, we internalize the conceptions and ideas of not just one person, but of many.
The ideas of others color and set the framework of how I conceive the things I encounter. And so, rightfully, I see and know and express what I think is my world through the filter of those influences. My images are a reflection and a projection of this. Through the course of many years and through repeated exposure, and because of my deep interest in photography, I’ve
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