LOVE STORIES

I’ve always been interested in the power of love and how it affects our lives. This life-long inspiration has resulted in a new collection that I’m delighted to share: Love Stories.

My fascination started with street photography as a kid in New York, where, if you walk around enough, you are definitely going to come across couples falling in love, falling out of love, straight-up fighting, kissing and making up, you name it.

Then I did some fashion photography in the ’90s and created photo essays based on imaginary screenplays. We shot them like movies with roles our talent played and, in some cases, used people who were actually in love, so the moments of interaction were all very candid and natural.

I started applying that approach to certain ad campaigns – Hallmark, Disney, Coke, etc. – as well, and would cast husband and wife for easy intimacy. In my documentary work, I’ve also come across real-life love stories. This collection is all of the above, from street photography and photojournalism, to documentary and all my commercial work over the years. 

I realized that no matter how fashionable, cool, or rich someone is, they just want to find love and be loved. As Psychologist Maslov theorized, people might not realize it, but love is part of the human story after you solve for food and shelter.

You have to learn human behavior, study body language and, anticipate what’s about to happen. Boxers learn to watch shoulder muscles contract to see the punch before it’s thrown. In photography, you are already raising the camera, adjusting for the light intuitively, and starting to focus just as the action is starting to happen. Click, yes! It’s a little miracle, as I always say.

The moments are just gifts you can’t fake or recreate. And capturing them is a super high that’s as addictive as it gets.