The following texts are my thoughts during a time I was photographing the seascape.
Although I had visited the ocean as a child it wasn't until I was a young adult that I concentrated on it as a subject.
I moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s and spent a lot of time on the beach struggling with issues of a typical emotional twenty-four year-old art student.
Watching the surfers of Malibu became a good place to start.
10.24.08
Water has become a source of comfort and swimming is my greatest escape
because of the physical strength and mental consolation it offers. Submerged
in a volume of water, my body finds isolation while giving back to me a
great sense of protection. Losing track of time is when I know I have reached
the peak level of comfort. Just as in dreams when I sleep, I see images
when I swim. The pictures are visually vague but register enough information
to trigger strong thoughts.
12.7.89
They are fairly easy to conceal; most are similar to the swell of an ocean
wave that never has quite enough momentum to develop into a fully blown,
white-capped, crashing-surf with sound. Just underneath the body's surface
something is pushing. And at exactly the moment it should peak with explosion,
it deflates and caves.
02.20.92
The feeling of just before. When my conscience obliges and then withdraws.
As the air is taut and my face is cold and reaching for breath is crippling.
When the swell of the ocean collapses. Pushing upward, pushing outward.
As the wave deflates and caves inward this is when I realize, just before,
I have a need for much but choose very little.
11.15.94