Charles Baudelaire characterized a flaneur as a stroller of city streets who seeks to understand and portray the city as he walks while remaining a detached observer. In that very same way, the inspiration for my photographs comes from the world around me.
I wander neighborhoods similar to the one I was raised in, an industrial working class suburb in New Jersey. In the faces and facades that I encounter along the way, I find a patina that can only be derived from a life lived hard. There exists an unpretentiousness for which I feel a close affinity, and in which I see much that is familiar yet want to know better. I find beauty in these faces and facades, especially when they give a hint to the inner complexities that lie beneath the surface.
How people present themselves, the clothes they wear, the way they hold their faces, their body language and environments are all elements that might allow the viewer to imagine a story about what they see.
There is a sense of ordinariness to these people and places that lie in stark contrast to life as portrayed in the media. There is nothing at all sensational going on here, just life being lived by ordinary people who do not regularly demand our attention. These are the people and places I am interested in; these are the people and places my work is all about.