Photography

My interest in photography began with my grandmother, Gertrude Samuels, who was a pioneering staff writer and photographer for the New York Times Magazine from its inception in the 1940s until the 1970s. She instilled in me a passion for artfully framed photographs and beautifully built cameras, such as a Hasselblad 6x6-cm and several Leicas with excellent optics. In graduate school, my sister gave me an old Polaroid Land Camera 250, and I was inspired by a dear friend and collaborator, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, to pursue 4x5-inch large-format photography with a Crown Graphic and a pristine Zeiss lens that we found at a camera show in Pasadena for about $50. With ASA 25 Polaroid film providing both a positive and negative on development, I could achieve enormous resolution surpassing the equivalent of 40,000 x 50,000 pixels (2-Gigapixels) in today’s terminology. I spent most of my time taking photos at night. I still have the older cameras, but the film is no longer made. Now my photography is entirely digital, usually with my Nikon Df, but the cell phone cameras are quite remarkable these days, too.

My photographs have appeared in numerous publications. Above are a few shots that I hope you enjoy. Please take note of the copyright statement at the bottom of the page. Contact me if you are interested in using any of them or seeing others.