How has your photography evolved since your retirement as a cameraman?

Since my retirement from broadcasting, I have much more time to spend on my photography. Most days after I’ve taken my daughter to school, I’m free to do what I want with little time constraints. Since I’m not getting up for work, or needing to go to bed at a specific hour, I can work in the darkroom until 1, 2 or 3 a.m. and not “pay the consequences.” While much of my work now is digital, I have been looking at older work (film) and re-printing selected images. I’ve had shows that include new as well as older work. Recently a good friend gave me two canon F-1 camera bodies and an assortment of lenses that I’m starting to use. I also want to experiment with some pinhole cameras, Holga panoramic cameras and larger format (4 x 5) …

Because of Parkinson’s Disease, I retired from broadcasting. Coping with Parkinson’s can be difficult, as you imagine, when it comes to photography as well: changing the lens, preparing the prints in the darkroom … all these technical aspects of working with the camera require precision, in some way or another. I just cope with it and do my very best to enjoy every aspect of the entire working process. I have no choice.

Are there aesthetic and ethical choices that you exercise during the process of creating photos?

Hmmmm… Yes.

If I were to photograph a KKK member, it would most likely not be a flattering photo. I shot an interview, one on one (with a producer) with Desmond TuTu on his first trip to New York City. (It was one of those times in my work when I overrode the still camera). As I admired TuTu greatly, I took the time to light him as best I could in the small church office at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

Honoré Daumier once said, “Photography described everything and explained nothing.” Given that you often adopt a documentary approach, would you agree?

A photograph can show minute details yet be manipulated in such a way as to leave out imagery that might or might not have relevance to the viewer. Photographs are only as honest as those who take them.

What artists, photographers or writers inspire and interest you continually? Why?

I’ve mentioned a few already. But let me say more: I’m probably most inspired by David Plowden’s work. His subject matter — trains, railroads, bridges, the vanishing America — as seen in “A Handful of Dust” is important imagery of this country. Jim Shaughnessy’s photographs are composed with a wonderful formal elegance. I’m also inspired by the Hudson River School of painters: Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durrand, Jasper Francis Cropsy… also Monet, Rembrandt and Van Gogh…