About

I modeled part time while in college. One day I was sent on a casting to meet a photographer who, I was told, was important. Little did I know how profoundly meeting Herb Ritts would change the direction of my life. Being in the presence of Herb while he was making images was a remarkable experience. I loved participating with and following along with his creative imagination as he let the spirit guide him.

On a certain Saturday and following a half day shoot with several models around the pool of Herb’s Hollywood home, Herb asked if I could stick around so he could talk to me about something.  What he revealed to me that day, I kept in complete confidence until he died: he was HIV positive. He wondered if he could ask a favor of me — would I be willing to drive to Mexico with him to meet a doctor, who would pass off an case filled with vials of serum to boost his T-Cell count. And further, (as he was needle phobic) would I be willing to learn how to give an injection to him every day for an extended period of time? “Why me?” I asked - His answer made perfect sense. He wanted to keep this absolutely secret and he believed he could close the loop with me. He was correct, and I agreed to help.

There is a very long and colorful story here. But suffice it to say: I started spending a lot more time in and around Herb’s studio and long the way, was inspired to begin making images of my own.  I began with friends at school, guys on the crew team and also my shy but willing girlfriend. After a few months, I gathered the courage to show Herb some of the results and he could not have been more enthusiastic or supportive.

Shortly after that, on my 21st birthday, Herb pulled his Jaguar up to the curb of my apartment building in Santa Monica, which I shared with two other guys, opened the car trunk, and pointed to a crumpled brown paper bag — “your birthday present,” he said with a sly grin. Opening the bag I discovered a Nikon F3 with a motor drive and 85mm lens. Herb said he had no problem parting with the camera — he had lots of them —but the perfectly weathered leather camera strap — that was a different story. “I was going to take it off before I gave you the camera, but then I thought — just leave it. Take care of it.”  (I still use it — it’s one of my cherished things). That night, Herb also gave me another gift: he told me he was going to call some LA-based modeling agencies in the morning and tell them that he had a young assistant that they might consider hiring for test shoots with their new talent. He suggested that I charge $200.00 for each test-shoot plus film and processing. So he did the next morning. And as my phone started to ring, I started a new adventure.

Some of the works shown here were made in the first months of beginning to take pictures in a totally new mode for me: with a team including among others, models, hair and make up artist, and sylists. Also new for me was the act of making pictures with both an artful and commercial purpose — in this case, getting all of those who participated in the shoot images for their own portfolios which could could help them gain future work. That, very thankfully, happened for me in me during my senior year in college when I was hired to shoot a part of the Calvin Klein campaign, which got me an agent and opened up the door to having a commercial photography career while still in college.

I graduated from UCLA, put off law school, and continued to make pictures in a certain mode for roughly five more years. I made most of them in or around my Hollywood photo studio (which I rented out under the name ‘Daylight” because it had a lot of it). Many of the images were made with young and emerging stars of that era in music, tv, film and fashion. These are some of my first pictures and they would provide a foundation for other things to come.