In 1978, I was a 20-year-old college student. I was an art major with a concentration in photography (also Social Science major). I had just bought a new camera, a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex. That summer I walked around Block Island taking photographs. These are not among my best. I was still learning. I did not have full control of film developing and my artistic eye was still in the beginning stages of growth. I went back to those old negatives and scanned some of them. There are a few from the following two summers. I cannot be sure which ones came later. Most of these are from 1978.

I selected these with the art in mind. But I also included some for my Block Island friends. Many of the fields are gone. The landscape is filled with million-dollar cottages. Forty years has seen the island go from an obscure summer town to a tourist destination. There are elements in these photographs that preview where my photography will go in later years. There is a minimalist ocean/sky photograph that is an antecedent to my “One Hundred Views of Ocean and Sky”. There are architectural photographs that reflect my lifelong obsession with Edward Hopper. The landscape photographs are one of the areas that I have pursued for all these years.

As for my Block Island friends, I have included images that will evoke memories of a time that has passed. We think of our family and friends that have been part of the experience of the island. To me it is like thinking about Christmases past. It brings about a feeling like none other. Block Island is more than a place. It is a piece of us.

Mostly this is the beginning of my photographing of Block Island. I have gone there every year since 1967. Spending most of the summer. Thus, it is my largest body of work. I have never tried to document the island or cover it. I would say my work there is an expression of why I go there. This work is the beginning of that.