What Is The Look of ...?

This project got started after I attended a writing workshop as part of my volunteer work with LEAP (Literacy for Every Adult Project) in my hometown of Richmond, CA. In one of the sessions we were asked to answer such questions as "What is the color of waiting?", "What is the sound of wisdom?"

Later, I began to think about the way many of my photographs, either intentionally, because I made them to remember an event or person, or by accident, because a photo simply reminded me of something, were linked to certain people,ideas, concepts, and emotions.

As I worked on this project, I began to put words with the pictures. Although I think of myself as a photographer, the words came to be as important as the images themselves.

This project is, of course, also an exploration of who I am, what I think of when I hear these words and see these images. When I wrote the text that accompanies the pictures, the words were true for me. As time passed, the emotions that prompted the words faded and became less true. Some of them. In others instances, the words are so much a part of me that they will be true forever.

For me, these pictures answer the questions -- "What is the look of....