Picture of the Week #72 "The Art Restorer"

Picture of the Week #72 "The Art Restorer" 1972 Paris, France Signed and Stamped

This image in particular represents the photographic journey that I have pursued my entire life, that of the observer. Here I was walking in Paris constantly taking pictures of people doing every day things, but I didn't know them. I was just recording them. Always the observer, rarely the participant. Passing by this window and seeing this conservator restoring a painting of a nude woman, I realized my path was to be a voyeur through a camera lens. It is probably one of the most satisfying crafts and talents that I have. My enjoyment is to walk the streets of strange or exotic cities and to take pictures. For years I never showed any of these photos to anyone. They were only for me. Then I began to paint pictures using these images as my sketch book, my reference material, my inspiration. Then one day in 2003 I dropped my paint brush and began to scan these filmed pictures into my computer, manipulate them, size them, change them to black and white, enhance or correct the aperture and sometimes re-crop. And other times I just printed them out just as they were snapped. They became a portfolio of my memory. This is one of my absolute favorites. It says it all.