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GALLERIES

(Click on an image or link to go to that gallery)

Note: On my Macintosh screen at home these images appear pretty much as I printed them. But on my PC at work they appear much too dark. I assume they will be too dark (or maybe even too light) for some other viewers as well. I don't know how to remedy this and would appreciate guidance from anyone who might.

VISIONS

I doubt that any serious photographer can really explain what draws him or her to shoot a vision. There is something that is momentarily irresistible in the way the light, the shadows, the forms, the situation, the human beings all come together. To be sure, 99% of the time this irresistibility evaporates on second viewing. How often have we all said on examining our contact sheets, "Why on earth did I shoot that?" But there's that magic one percent, even less, when the photograph itself becomes a personal treasure for inexplicable reasons.

TODAY AND TOMORROW

A picture may be worth a thousand words, as they say, but whose words? Well, your words. Our words. The stories are unique to all of us, and they may surprise us as they seep from within while we contemplate a photograph. Who are those people in the pictures? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? Why do I like them? Why do they scare me? What! Am I dreaming? Now I remember... Oh, how I wish...

PARIS EXTRA

Galleries on this site are spotted with snapshots of Paris. That's because Paris is my home. I commute to work on the Métro, I read newspapers in cafés, I spend long hours walking. The city is the subject of countless photographs — clichés that we are all familiar with. Hoping not to aggravate that flood, I offer an additional handful of images of Parisians at play.

TRAMS IN PRAGUE

I first went to Prague in 1976. I was not a photographer then, so I have no visual record (except in memory) of the city's curious life under communism. When I went back to Prague in 1997 (and again the next year) I was of course struck and heartened by the city's transformation. Still, remnants of the regressive era remained all around. Riding Prague's aged trams in particular was almost like journeying backward in time, and as I observed people move about their increasingly modern city I sometimes wondered if they really knew what day it was.

GOING THERE

Despite the abundance of automobiles, there remain millions of carless city dwellers who rely on buses, subways and trams to commute — to work, to shop, to visit friends. I know, because I am one of these people. We commuters spend a significant amount of our lives simply going and coming in the company of others. Occasionally we may recognize a face from last week or even speak to a nameless traveler, but most often the strangers with whom we wait in line, rub shoulders and exchange glances make no lasting impression. They are here today, then gone forever. There is a certain sadness in this loss, which is probably what compels me to shoot.

GROWING UP

There was a time when I thought, selfishly I now realize, that I did not want to have children. Alas, I have three. Watching them grow up has been as instructive in the ways of life as anything else I can think of. I suppose that's why I'm often drawn to children when I have my camera in hand. I do not know any of the children pictured in this gallery, but I think about them a lot.

VIETNAM EXTRA

In 1972, after my graduation from Michigan State University, I successfully failed a military medical exam (with the help of a clever doctor) and perhaps escaped an involuntary trip to Vietnam. I have no regrets about that. But I have always been curious about the country that so dominated my generation. So in 1996, a generation later, I went to take a look.

OBJECTS

One of the first things any worthwhile photographer grasps is the difference between looking and seeing. Each day we observe trees and flowers, cars and bicycles, houses and towers and a multitude of other objects that we take for granted. But how often do we really see them?