I grew up in a family of painters, but for me lightning stuck in my first darkroom course. Immediately I had to have a 4x5 camera and a darkroom. I loved how black and white photography simplified a scene into form and tonal range. Then, for several years I was enrolled in a graduate program in art history, studying Roman art. As a result, I began to travel extensively in image-rich Italy — always with a camera. I now shoot with a more deliberative process, using medium format black and white film and a tripod.

In addition to enjoying how black and white photography transforms reality, I am fascinated by motion as it is rendered on film with long exposures. Water, for example. It allows for serendipity in the image and a potential surprise for me upon development. I also love variegation across surfaces: in Italian walls and stone pavements, or blackboards with a pristine sheen and cloudy erasures.

If I have a philosophy about photography, it is that it doesn’t matter what the subject is. My favorite images are about form and the range of tones.