This was a series of pictures based on a formula (thus the "academic" quality): each picture was centered on a color, had some kind of personal item in it (clothing or something domestic), and usually something from the darkroom. I used this series to explore crowded, rather baroque compositional schemes and also for the sheer pleasure of working with color and with the familiar objects of my household. Prints were 11" x 14" from 4" x 5" color negatives.

Following an especially bitter winter in Chicago (the great blizzard of 1979), these pictures were made as a celebration of spring, of life returning. Hoping to make flower pictures that were not complete stereotypes, I decided to photograph the flowers in the bud stage instead of full bloom. Prints were 14" x 11" from 5 " x 4 " color negatives.

Flower Buds, 1979

This group of pictures was produced as boxed portfolio sets of ten 11" x 14" photographs in 1980, made from 4" x 5" color negatives. The idea was, of course, a reference to the vanitas still lifes of history. In this case, I used familiar objects and images combined with favorite texts, all of which had a kind of retrospective melancholy. This project had a great deal of personal meaning and attempted to put to rest some feelings of loss and grief. At the same time, the pictures were celebrations of every small item within them. Also, this was my first attempt to combine texts (particularly poems) with pictures, a theme that would be pursued further in the future. For more, see the Vanitas essay.

Vanitas, 1980

This group of still lifes returned in each case to an older photograph and expanded on the ideas or feelings the earlier picture had evoked. I was also interested in creating these pictures in a kind of theatrical, proscenium-stage presentation. Thus they were vertical and in a standing, presentational format. Arranging the still life objects in a vertical space was a special challenge of this project.

Early prints were 20" x 16" dye-transfer prints, with a few Evercolor prints at the end of the project (after Kodak had discontinued the dye-transfer process). Current prints are digital. Originals were 5" x 4" color negatives.

Theater of Recollection, 1993-94