1- Are you a professional photographer? No. I earned a degree in photography in 1978, but avoided working as a photographer. I chose to work in related fields (photo labs, photo retail, animation cameraman) so that I could shoot what I wanted to, and only have to answer to myself regarding photos.
2- Why street photography? After years of nature photography, darkroom compositing, graphic work etc I took a trip to New York City with a bag full of Kodachrome 25. When the film came back I abandoned all other photo interests except street and environmental portraiture. People became my main interest.
3- How would you describe your photography style? My excitement is always discovery. I don’t move objects, or pose people. I am a hunter in my street work, a farmer in my portraiture work. A true Gemini.
4- What makes a good picture from your point of view? What do you look for in an image? Engagement. People in the world, interacting with other people, within the environments that others created (Street) or that they created (Portraiture).
5- How do you educate yourself to take better photos? I studied the mechanics and chemistry of photography in school. I took classes in digital processing when the world changed. I read photo books & magazines, I comb the web to see other photographer’s work, I belong to the Los Angeles Center of Photography which keeps me in the photo community and exposes me to new people, new work, and also the past masters. And of course gallery shows.
6- Where in the world would you most like to photograph? Any urban environment, large or small.
7- Who would you most like to photograph and what kind of pictures do you avoid to shoot? I prefer making images that have an element of surprise, humor, affirmation. I generally avoid shooting things that hurt, like poverty, addiction, people in hopeless situations. I know these things exist (Los Angeles has tens of thousands of homeless people, I am over ten years sober from my own addiction and a family history of it). I don’t see a need for more images of people we should be helping. There are many good photographers who bring empathy and compassion to that pursuit, and I respect their involvement. I’m not the right person for that task.
8- Have you been confronted by someone whose photo you took on the street? What would be your advices how to avoid confrontation when doing Street Photography? In over 40 years of shooting I have only had one person get upset. I chose to walk away, which is what he wanted. But it wasn’t going to be a great shot anyway. My advice? Be confident, act like you’re authorized, be respectful.
9- Your favourite street image of your own to date and why? That’s like asking who my favorite child is.
10- Your favourite piece of equipment? Currently I’m using a Sony A7RII. My go-to lens is a Canon EF20mm 2.8 or the Zeiss Batus 25mm 2.0. I always shoot wide angle because I hate the distraction of cars, parking meters, light poles, etc. Close means clean. If I’m shooting film its a Canon F1 with the old Canon 20mm, or my Nikon FE with a Nikkor 20. Same reasons.
11- What are your favorite settings (Aperture. Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance, Focus, Manual/Auto, Image Format – RAW/JPEG) for Street Photography and why? For digital it’s auto or manual. The Sony has great low light ability, and the auto setting keeps the shutter fast enough to hand hold. But I shoot. manual if depth of field is essential. I always shoot raw and jpeg in digital. For film is manual settings and Fujichrome.
12- Is photography art? Absolutely.
13- Black And White or Colour? I want to be careful about answering this because it is a very touchy issue. I see the world in color. I always struggled because when I started most of the photo world was very biased toward b&w being the pure form. No one knew who Eggleston was. I have never seen a b&w street scene. I see in color and respond emotionally to color as part of what I am seeing. There are many photographers who use the abstraction of b&w beautifully, I would never tell them not to use the tools that help them express themselves. It just isn’t a language I speak.
14-What are your thoughts on editing? My preference is to do most of the work in the camera. I prefer to minimize cropping, but I use photoshop to adjust color balance, contrast, and sometime exposure. Just like I did in the darkroom before.
15- Why do you share to Progressive Street and who would you like to see showcased from Progressive Street? The people who share on Progressive Street are more interested in the image than the gear, and it is about Street photography. The site has more diversity and experience doing street photography, less predictability. It is too soon to say who I think should be showcased, I am still familiarizing myself with everyone's work.