Sicilian Journey

Photography is my passion. Through the camera’s lens, I am able to view life with a strong sense of humanity. This passion runs through all my activities —viewing the work of other photographers, shooting and printing my images, and guiding my students.

I am reflected in my photographs. How I respond to my subject is based on my deep interest in human interactions.

Photographing people in their environment excites me because of the potential of my sitters to reveal what is not visible through their external layer.

My subjects’ persona, sensitivity and depth might otherwise go unnoticed without my particular point of view. When they allow me to view them in this manner, I in turn am able to freeze them and this moment in time.

Environmental portraiture and candid expression combined with the aesthetic elements of composition, light and tonality transform my form of visual journalism into fine art.

Each photograph has strength of its own; yet by grouping them into a photo essay I am able to explore with my camera to create a broader vision of the subject.

Though the image is captured in a brief second, I would like to create an indelible image within the viewer’s memory that is ultimately timeless. The moment may pass us by but the image will continue forever.

Sicilian Journey is especially meaningful to me. My paternal grandparents Frank and Giovannina Cortese lived on the Aeolian Island of Stromboli where my grandfather
was a fisherman. They immigrated to America and never returned to their homeland.

Over the years I remained curious about the land of my ancestry, having heard these stories many times over. I made a brief visit to Sicily in 1976 and felt compelled to return. In 1997, I arrived with a passion to photograph and explore this unfamiliar territory.