This image comes from a very challenging transitional time for me. Someone I was chatting with on Match once asked me “what did it take to get that shot” . I answered, “a year’s nervous breakdown”. I was in the last gasps of a quest for a Ph.D. in medieval European history at Harvard, but I didn’t have a dissertation topic yet, my spouse was in her Fulbright year finishing up hers. I was wondering whether I could “do something with my photography”, I had palpitations every time I got in a vehicle. It was a challenging year.

But….. when people say “that reminds me of a Vermeer”, I feel it was all worth it. The first time I heard this, I had to go find out who Vermeer really was and I did. I accept the compliment. I love light the way he did, I appreciate the probability that he set up his scenes through a lens…. I can feel the lens when I look at his paintings, but I don’t want to die bankrupt the way he did. Maybe this (I almost wrote painting) will be more valuable if I do, but I think it is inherently pretty valuable. If you do, I hope you will give it a home.

12x18 inch pigment ink print on rag paper, varnished, mounted on canvas and framed in a 2.5 inch custom gold florentine frame.

By the way, this frame is truly truly beautiful. It is a custom made, hand rubbed wooden frame covered in gold (not real gold) paint. I forget what it cost, but somewhere between 25 and 50% of the price of this piece.

This is a very beautiful photograph in a very beautiful frame.