Changes

Tonight I was asked if my work in this series has changed over time. Yes, yes it has. I noticed this the last time i photographed, a couple weeks ago. I wanted to write about why it has changed as sort of a marker of time and its effect on art.

Over time, the wall between me and these women has started to break so there is visibly more comfortability in the photos. Also, what I mean by the photos being more "art" and less documentary is because over time I've started seeing them not so much as crossdressers but as a group of women. So the "art" comes in as the photographs are becoming simply photographs of people. A social gathering. This is not to say that a photograph of just anything or anyone can't be "art." I am saying that the best stories are told first hand. Art viewers bring their own experience to relate to a piece. As a photographer, I bring my own experience to a setting until my subjects become an experience.

In the beginning, as much as I wanted to stay away from irony, I couldn't help but capture it because my relationship with these women was purely superficial and from afar. I still see the duality in certain situations but now just the same as any photographer sees duality, irony, humor and beauty enough to photograph it.

To quote Nan Goldin, "These pictures come out of relationships, not observations."
This statement has driven this series from the very beginning. This was my goal. Fortunately, it is a goal I don't have to stop at once achieved.