My archive does look organized, and to a certain extent it is. The film in the binders is more organized than the prints in the drawers and boxes. Open those up and there is an explosion of a visual cacophony. When I pull out binders to look at old contact sheets, it can be dangerous. What might start out as looking for a particular image to scan turns into an afternoon of pouring over page after page of work, reminiscing over the past. While I am proud of the work I have done in my career and the places it has taken me, I can’t help but feel sad that it is over, and nobody really cares about my work but me. It is very curious thing, looking back. I have been thinking lately of asking friends if they had a golden era in their lives? A period when they were clicking on cylinders, and everything was working. What was happening then? Why was it so good? And ultimately why did it end? For me it was the 1990s. I traveled abroad for the first time. I worked in the White House. I found my true passion for making evocative stock imagery. I think the biggest thing that happened during that period was that my confidence flourished. I felt I really knew what I was doing and could go anywhere and do anything I wanted. And for the most part I did. Why did it end? No particular event, just the winds of change. The tech crash changed things, 911 changed things and for me digital changed everything. The recession was the icing on the cake. Fortunately, my confidence stuck around, and I managed the winds of change fairly well, but I often think of my own personal Belle Epoch and what a fun ride it was.
