Artist Statements

A General Statement

Whether I’ve met them or not (and I’ve met none of them) every one of my photography heroes are interested in human stories to understand themselves through their photos. I’m no different. As a photographer, I make pictures to explore and understand my own humanity and the people around me. 

This might be the result of being a shy only child raised by the people I saw on tv and in the fantasy novels I read more than by my somewhat dysfunctional family. As a kid that craved connecting with people, I always was interested in knowing what others had to offer... Because I have always been the curious type and lived in several different countries for half of my life, the experience of being an outsider looking in was not only familiar but exciting. It gave me a need to rapidly create human connections with people different than me. By making friends from drastically different backgrounds and cultures, I learned incredibly valuable lessons about empathy, friendship and love. It taught me that if I let others in, they would -in turn- let me in. 

As far as I’m concerned, living taught me how to be a photographer. 

Today, I am a far cry from that child. I don't just want to read about stories others have created for me; I want my photography to serve as a tool to inform, document and tell beautiful -honest- stories about the human condition… whatever that is.

Stepping Stone

The worst things we have done do not define who we were then, who we are now, or who we will ever be. Although we all carry shame and guilt for the things we have said or done to the people around us, our own destructive shortcomings do not have to be our entire identity.

As San Diegans, we live next to people that live with substance abuse or ones that have survived it. Whether they are struggling with homelessness or have a job and are your next-door neighbor We, as a community, need to recognize that we are all affected by drug and alcohol abuse, whether we know these people directly or not. They are part of us. 

That’s why the Stepping Stone Living Out Loud campaign is all about empowering the members of its community to live their lives to the fullest to show they are an integral part of San Diego. This project hits very close to home for me as I have lost a friend to substance abuse but it also matters to me as an artist. I have built my career in photography on the belief that empathy means everything and that it needs to be the life in every image I make. Creating these images for the Stepping Stone community means that I get to have the privilege to know its members and present them so they can introduce themselves… We need to see each other to know the other. I’m just happy I am here to facilitate that process.

Portraits Of My Father

“Portraits Of My Father” is an ongoing portrait series looking at the diaspora of the fathers of today in order to challenge stereotypes of the past. It is also an introspection/exorcism of what my relationship with my father was NOT like growing up (loving and close) compared to what my relationship with my children IS like today. It is also a symbol of my eternal search to understand what that word actually means at its core instead of subscribing to societal stereotypes that do not match my own experience. 

My goal was to photograph 40 fathers of all types and their children and to explore masculinity, love, and parenting visually, and challenge the assumptions that usually come with it. I sought to photograph fathers of all kinds: Ones that have adopted children or that were adopted themselves; recomposed families; fathers and kids with special needs; dads that have used surrogates in order to have children; fathers and kids with mixed backgrounds of all kinds, of all classes... and what I have come to truly realize since starting this project is that DNA doesn't mean much when it comes to being a father. This is a position ,I think, that is radically different from just a generation ago. My dad was a product of his generation: post war baby boomer France… work hard, provide little emotional bandwidth. In contrast, I was a homemaker twice for my children and I was there to raise them. My experience, raising my 2 daughters with my wife, could not be more different. 

Visually, I wanted to create portraits that were organic and that reflected the relationships dad and kids had with each other instead of forcing a pose on them that did not reflect who they were. In order to achieve that visually, I wanted the setup to be consistent and easy to replicate (one gray backdrop, one 24' octabox) so that all  my attention would be solely dedicated to my subjects.