New Catalogue

We met the subject who was photographed for the series Interview of a Man at our Chicago studio when he was dropping off his son Ben. Ben modeled for New Catalogue and figures prominently in the project Tiger Afternoon. The Man’s long hair and flawless features gave him a striking resemblance to Viggo Mortensen as depicted in the trilogy Lord of the Rings. To us, he represented the ideal man. We first thought of incorporating him into Tiger Afternoon, but later decided that there should be no adults in the series. We had no contact with the Man until two years later. He had cut off his long hair but his flawless features were still apparent. The contours of his face were coarse but equally empathetic. With this in mind, it was important for us to photograph him. The title Interview of a Man stemmed from our experience while photographing the Man. During the one-hour shoot, to put him at ease, we asked questions and he told stories about his work with the Lakota Sioux at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He also discussed decisions he made after college that he felt had affected the course of his life.