What do you love about living here?

I'm beginning a long-term photographic project about the people who live in The Villages.

I'd like to make portraits that are a little different from the usual portrait. Rather than simply photographing you, I'd like you to show me something you love about living here.

It could be your golf cart.

Your favorite pickleball court or golf hole.

A friend.

Your garden.

Your kitchen.

A club or activity you're passionate about.

Or something else entirely.

The idea is simple: you show me something that matters to you, and I'll make a photograph that brings the two together.

These won't be studio portraits. The environment, the objects and the things you choose to show me will be an important part of the photograph. I'm interested in what those things reveal about you.

I'd also like you to write your own caption for the photograph. In your own words, tell me what we're seeing and why it matters to you. Your words will become part of the story.

Why Here?

I've always been interested in photographing people without imposing too much of my own interpretation on them.

More than 50 years ago, I came across Bill Owens' Suburbia. What stayed with me wasn't simply the photographs, but the way Owens allowed people to reveal themselves without judgment. He seemed almost not to be there.

That idea has stayed with me.

I'm not interested in making photographs of what people think The Villages is. And I'm not interested in making an advertisement for it—or a critique of it.

I'm interested in the people who actually live here.

There are thousands of individual stories inside a place that can easily be reduced to a single idea. I'm curious about what's underneath that idea.

What brought you here?

What keeps you here?

What have you discovered here?

And perhaps most simply:

What do you love about living here?

A little about me

I've spent more than four decades making photographs, beginning in fashion and commercial still life photography before eventually moving increasingly toward personal work.

My commercial career included books for Steuben Glass, De Beers Diamonds, the Brooklyn Museum, and Geoffrey Beene, as well as international advertising campaigns for Gucci, Prada, Shiseido, L'Oréal and Bergdorf Goodman, to name just a few.

I have always loved making photographs and will always be grateful for the clients who trusted me with the freedom to make them.

After being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, I eventually stepped away from the commercial photography world. It gave me the opportunity to spend more time following my own curiosity and making photographs simply because I wanted to see what was there.

Oh, and FYI ...I'm just completing the final procedure of DBS so I'm no longer shakey!

What happens if you participate?

It's pretty simple.

We'll talk about what you'd like to show me, find a place or situation that feels meaningful to you, and make the portrait there.

You don't need to be a model.

In fact, I'd much rather photograph someone who has something they're excited to show me than someone who is simply comfortable having their picture taken.

There is no charge to participate.

Because this is a long-term personal project, not every photograph will necessarily become part of the finished body of work. I'll be honest about that from the beginning.

My hope is that, over time, the project will become a book and perhaps a gallery exhibition—a collection of photographs and voices that offers a more personal and complicated picture of life in The Villages.

If a photograph from your session is ultimately selected for the project, I'd like to give you a signed and numbered Artist Proof archival pigment print of the image. The final size and format will be determined as the project develops.

I'll also ask you to sign a model release before we begin, since the photographs may eventually be published and/or exhibited.

Thank you so much for your time

If you'd like to be part of the project, I'd love to hear from you.