Quotes

When I'm looking through my viewfinder at a man with an erection, I see his essence, his most powerful being. But he's also very vulnerable in that moment. It's a contradiction.

I'm the kind of person that, if I see a couple kissing in the park, would go around to get a better look.

[on photographing men in the nude] Men love the role reversal. They love the opportunity to be a sex object. I like helping them fulfill a sexual fantasy.

I was always attracted to people, places, and things that were different. That was the beginning of my photography.

I've always been attracted to the underbelly, the outcasts, of society. I like to befriend them and hear their story and make them feel like they have somebody that's listening to them, so that's what I did. I saw a bunch of homeless people in Bryant Park and I did some pictures of them, portraits of them sitting around.

My film of choice has always been black and white, and I still shoot with a 50mm lens and available light. I've never been technical. I guess that comes from being self-taught and doing everything my own way. What you see in the photo is what I saw looking through my lens. I thrive with lots of obstacles and challenges, so it always worked out well for me to get photographs that I'm pleased with.

We're a very puritanical country, we're not as open-minded as Europeans. We suppress a lot of things, such as the male nude image. I started photographing the male nude in 1975. Back then and still today, there are men who have never had the experience of being photographed in the nude by a female. Women have been photographed and painted throughout history by men. There are still very few male nude photographs for women to see compared to the amount of female nudes for men to see.

[on Kandi Barbour] I was close to Kandi Barbour. She was a vulnerable girl, but so sweet.

My lifetime mission and passion is to continue to photograph erotica, sexuality, and gender positively and have begun a new photographic series that will enlighten people about nudity. But I do want to say that NYC and Times Square has given me a lifetime passion that I will always be thankful for, especially being able to photograph during the decade of the 80's in the Times Square that I once knew and will always cherish. Times Square will always have a special place in my heart.

When I wasn't married, I kept my distance more. In the seventies, sex was more free and open, so posing nude wasn't as sexually charged. Now, post-AIDS, sex is more taboo, and they're looking for new ways to get turned on.