Mark: Subject, Object, Collaborator, Not Just Another Green Pepper

The project "Mark: Subject, Object, Collaborator, Not Just Another Green Pepper" began 8 years ago when I was living in Palm Springs. I met Mark at a gay art salon. The first portrait of Mark in the book is the first portrait I shot of him, and still one of the finest images of HIM. I remember that photo shoot because it was the time that I discovered through him that he suffered from HIV related dementia and bipolar disorder. Many of the images involve capturing those disorders. But like any subject who gets photographed repeatedly over an 8 year period, it was imperative for there to be more to him then just an object, hence the reference to Edward Weston's green pepper photographs. Mark was a willing subject and open and available to anything and any whim at any time for my lens. We collaborated on many levels: psychic, physical, and creative.