About

It isn't easy to call oneself an artist, or it's too easy. For me it isn't a title, I had to be one. I couldn't take it lightly. It was something to be earned, someone to become. I work in 2 dimensions and three. I'm still wondering about the connection between my sculpture and my photographs. Maybe it's the orderliness, the formality. 

I am a photographer. My photographs are spontaneous, a discovery rather than a plan. A camera in my hand changes the way I see my surroundings and the people within it. To catch an image I first have to see it. It sounds basic but it isn't as easy as it sounds. There is a difference between looking and seeing. Seeing entails piercing a veil, forming a connection between oneself and an image, if only for an instant. 

The momentum of my education carried me through law school. Perhaps this connection is revealed in these images. Can you imagine, fresh out of graduate school and I said out loud "I want to be an artist". In the early 70's, still practicing law, I began studying at The San Francisco Art Institute working predominantly in sculpture. I worked in plaster and wood and paper. Then for many years I manufactured women's clothing. Color, hand, shape, personality, an art in itself.

I'm hoping you can see something in these photographs for yourself. That we make our own connection, if only for an instant.

photo by Stephen Pariser