When I look for rectangles of the world to photograph… when I compose an image in the viewfinder… when I edit a file… I hope for two results: “sense” and “symbol.” By sense I want to imply both meaning and feeling. The meaning is the factual story that the photograph conveys, and the feeling is the sensual pleasure that—through, say, shape, line, light, and color—it offers. I want my photographs to provide insights into aspects of the world—aspects that might be termed cultural, social, political, etc.—by capturing real information and then organizing and presenting it in unusual and, I hope, emotionally engaging ways.

By symbol, I want to suggest that the obvious meaning of a photograph can sometimes move to a deeper level—call it metaphor—that feels broadly significant and thus gives the viewer an “ah-ha” moment. To achieve this symbolic quality, I try to combine at least two seemingly disparate or incongruous elements in an image.

I never want to make any of these images up; instead, I want to discover, record, edit, and print them with relatively little manipulation. Then I want to “use” my photographs myself—to learn from them—as my own chief customer. If I’m lucky, I get other people to look at and use the photographs for their own purposes.