The other day I went to the JCC in Manhattan where Larry Fink was giving a lecture. I couldn’t miss that. Years earlier, during the summer of 1989, I did work study at the Maine Photo Workshop where I first met Larry Fink.

That was a grand summer of experimentation, jumping off the local quarry with my rubber ducky for protection and falling in love with photography. It was on a lark that I even managed to go to the interview for the highly desired position that coincided with my first ski trip with college friends Jim and Liz. Hey I’m a city girl, we don’t usually get out of the concrete jungle.

I didn’t mind sweeping floors and taking orders, for a short time, as long as I could spend time shooting and printing. It was one evening where we were encouraged to approach artists that I first spoke to Larry and asked him for his opinion on my images. I shot nude self-portraits using infrared film. Larry spoke of my images in such a seductive way that my creative juices began to flow, I was captivated by his critical descriptions. He gave me the confidence to pursue photography, to follow my love with fearless abandonment.

When given the opportunity following his lecture I jumped at the chance to speak with Larry once again. I told him my story and expressed how he deeply influenced my life. He told me that I looked familiar, held my hands firmly in his own, then gave me his card and told me to contact him and send some images. My work is so different now; I really want to get back to that place of free association and off the cuff shooting. There is no time like the present.