Constructing Masculinity. These photographs come out of an exploration of what it might look like for a man to be in the world without taking on the roles of patriarch, provider, warrior, and macho man. I sought to create images of men who have chosen to connect to their strength and power through introspection and contemplation, and/or through mutual interpersonal relationships with friends, family and community.

As I photographed men, the influence of my father's construction of masculinity and his role as our principal family photographer became apparent. I was challenging his authority on what manhood should be, and, working to make pictures that contradicted representations of the American male, which promotes an image of men as being tough, emotionally unexpressive, self-reliant, isolated, and detached. That I would also include an exploration of women, who are closer to the stereotype of masculinity, would seem quite alien to him.

An iconography of masculinity that portrays sensitiveness and feelings of vulnerability, the performance of gentle acts, tenderness and affection, meditative prayerfulness, melancholy, being openly loving and close, being intuitive and spontaneous enhances an obvious manliness. These photographs, portray ordinary situations in some people's lives, but reveal much of what was missing in my family life. The picture making process became a vehicle through which I began to reframe my father in relationship to myself.