A photocopier is a camera in its own right. I was fortunate to grow up in the time and culture that I did. I was allowed to develop an awareness that the art that really moves me is actually based on an original image.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I don't see myself as a photographer. I still see the photographs and collages as a resource for the painting.
I understood the craft of photography when done by an artist is art.
Many people misunderstand me - I'm quite happy to be called a photographer. All of a sudden, the art world has caught up with photography, and they are trying to hijack us.
Photorealism's goal is to reproduce a photograph. The best photorealism can't beat a printer, and I have a really nice printer.
Photography started as a means of getting reference material for my paintings of nature subjects.
I just really wanted to do art, except when I was taking those photographs of people I would make the clothes that I would photograph them in so I could control the whole thing.
The man at Kodak told me the shots were very good and if I kept it up, they would give me an exhibition. Later, Kodak gave me my first exhibition.
I always saw photography as a way to get to film.
I could never figure out why photography and art had separate histories. So I decided to explore both.
I've always thought photography is not so much of an art form but a way of communicating and passing on information.