Mill Valley, California, my town since 1964, has always been the focus
of my camera - not only because of its beauty and charm - but
because of its inhabitants. In the early sixties I began doing
commissions for individuals and families in San Francisco and Marin
County, and discovered I had a good way with people and the light that
shone on them. It then became a challenge for me to capture the
energy of a group, and I began assembling people who worked
together In Mill Valley - postal employees, city workers, business
owners and staff, council members, board members, parade
participants, classrooms, sports team members - and in the process
discovered that the mere act of bringing people together heightened
their sense of purpose and importance and gave me a great respect
and admiration for their endeavors and personalities. It never stops
amazing me that these "group photos" can take on a life of their own
and capture a sense of belonging and community and joy that I might
never have suspected had I not taken on the challenge.
I am not an artist, but rather a chronicler of my surroundings. Perhaps
one day, long after I'm gone, it will be said that these photographs are
incisive - even artistic- but for this moment , my ongoing journal of my
town serves to elucidate how life style and attitude to community are in
constant flux. That being said, there remains a core integrity - a
history - of our town that binds us together and helps us communicate.
There is a permanent collection of my photographs exhibited at the Mill
Valley Library which chronicles the community from 1963 through the
present. When people new to our town see this exhibit in the library,
they seem amazed and delighted with the images, and invariably leave
the show with quite a different picture of what their town is all about.
Mill Valley is so much more than a status location filled with glamorous
and pricey big homes. It is a real community with a real history and
real people striving to make their lives work in an ever more difficult
environment for community. Mill Valleyans strive not just to live well,
but to live well with one another.
I am currently working on a new project photographing women
business owners and artists in Mill Valley.