PROJECT METHOD

As a photographer edging towards the storytelling style of documentary, I found myself in the midst of a unique story in October, 2004. My epiphany came in Hong Kong at the harbor between Kowloon and Hong Kong.

On the Kowloon side of the harbor with its spectacular view across to Hong Kong Central District, among the movie trivia of the Avenue of the Stars (the Chinese equivalent of our Hollywood Walk of Fame), I found individuals, couples and groups taking pictures of each other. In a matter of just a few hours I had over 100 images that all shared one single underlying fundamental; all were of people taking snapshots of other people and their surroundings.

This was an intriguing phenomenon, which I surmised, happened at a similar density an frequency at other major landmarks worldwide.

I retraced my path down busy Nathan Lane, a street similar to 42nd Street in New York, and captured one or two people taking pictures in front of subway stations and the like. Frequency increased at the entrance to The Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong's premier hotel, as it became the background for over 25 couples and families photographing each other. This confirmed the idea that the more novel a location, the more people would be drawn to take pictures there.

I photographed the same location at the Hong Kong Harbor, for three hours a day, over a three day period. That deliberate action and schedule became the constant for each of the subsequent landmarks that I photographed around the world over the past 15 months, yielding from 600 to 800 images per site.

Each country's site was then edited to 30 images and then 10 for the final portfolio. After completing the project in January of 2006, I reedited the first seven landmarks with a broader perspective that led me to find earlier disregarded shots engaging, entertaining and even more relevant as part of the whole serial documentary.

The project collection is photographed with just one 35mm camera body and a 20mm lens. I chose the 20mm lens deliberately to achieve a greater intimacy with my subjects, and by doing so, found myself actually becoming part of their memory-creation process.

When I began the project in October of 2004, I decided on three recurring technical elements in my work from site to site: the use of the landmark as the main background; the wide field of view from the 20 mm lens; and finally recording accurately the unique quality of each of these landmarks' atmospheric environments.

Hong Kong's harbor fog, London's overcast sky, New York's brilliant blue September days and Agra's super saturated glow all contribute to a sense of place, and serve to underscore the idea that although the location changed as I traveled around the world, the human behavior I observed remained the same.