Couples

The myth of marriage and domestic bliss presented by the media during my childhood was a far cry from what I was exposed to at home in small-town New York. I grew skeptical about the possibility of long-term commitments and equitable partnerships, learning from disappointments in my own failed relationships, along with many dissolving marriages among my friends.

At the age of thirty, still single, I moved to Vermont and began photographing couples that I met socially. I imagine I was drawn to them as portrait subjects because I wanted to discover something about the nature of intimacy. It wasn't long before I was photographing some of the same individuals newly single or reorganized into new families. While accumulating a portfolio of portraits and interviews, I began a PhD at MIT studying the history of the family and the impact of women's changing roles and different communication styles. I produced a documentary called "Marital Fracture," incorporating video of a couple going through mediation along with analysis by experts in divorce, mediation, and psychology.