New York

I was forty years old when I moved to The City. It was in response to a long and frustrating year for me. Excruciatingly slow, all my contacts had just gone quiet and there was no work. My private life was in turmoil as well and I just didn’t know which way to turn. So I packed my life away and faced the great unknowns of New York City and began the greatest adventure of my life.
Luckily I had a place to stay for three week and in those weeks I had to find employment and a place to call home. I had a contact with Pete Turners studio who’d show me the ropes and would help in finding jobs for me. But the onuses was on me and my fondness for survival. That first year in the City I wore out three pairs of running shoes looking for work. Work was much easier to find than a place to live but both were in short supply. Eventually fate led me to James McLoughlin who had a beautiful studio on West 24th Street.
Jim is an extraordinary photographer and a friend who really helped me make my way through the complex ways of business and the art of photography. He was a hard man at times but generous with his knowledge and equipment. He encouraged all his assistants to use the studio and his equipment to the fullest extent to get the benefit of their time with him. I learn a great deal from working with him and sharing my images with him. The greatest compliment any photographer can get is to have a mentor say he wished he’d shot that and I received that compliment with pride.
In his studio I learned to use reflectors and gobos for there maximum effect. I learned to sculpt my light to where it was needed and to take it from where it was not. All the tricks I had learn combined to give my work a finished look and then some. I had a chance to experiment and to invite people to play and have a good time and learn something in the bargain. I had the chance to earn good money and to impress a lot of people with the studio. I am forever grateful for that opportunity and the man who made that all possible.
I had a summer of Danish girls who came to pose for me. They were very open with me and treated their body’s like extensions of themselves. I remember waiting while a polaroid developed and watching one girl pressing her clothes while wearing just her panties. I told myself she’s just a girl with beautiful breast, you’ve seen breast before. Which was true but it had been a long time since I’d seen someone build on such a grand scale and I was very impressed. But the reality was we were there to do a job and not for my personal enjoyment. She was so open because of her upbringing and her trust in me. And that trust was something I couldn’t and wouldn’t violate but that didn’t preclude me from enjoying myself.
This is Susannah also from my Danish Summer who wasn’t quite as open but she sure put up with a lot. She had a pretty severe look, very Germanic and hard but a joy to work with. I softened her look believe it or not but I never could get her to smile on camera. She drove the hardest bargain when we got to dividing up the film at the end but I was pleased with the way she turned out. I feel like she’s a great example of my lighting and my skill as a photographer.