I'll tell you my story because my work is autobiographical; at least it began that way. I was born in New York, which is pretty unusual, I donít think many people are these days. My interest started because of a teacher I had in high school, actually. I never went to college. I left New York and went to live in Florence when I was eighteen years old. I studied renaissance painting there. I came back to New York and I got married and I had my first child when I was 21. I didnít know what was going on. A lot of my friends were getting married. My brother began collecting art and my father had always been a collector so I had grown up around it. We moved to Sun Valley Idaho, which is a ski resort. I was bored out of my mind there. Luckily, there was an art center in Sun Valley, a workshop, where artists would come for three or four days and just work all day and as a student I got to meet these famous photographers. Even though Sun Valley was a blast I was deeply homesick. I would go around with my Pentax 35mm camera and I photographed what I thought was very different there. Fashion was a great part of my life. I also started thinking about narrative: the American family was not close enough; it was deteriorating. Meanwhile me and my family and friends were living a fascinating, idyllic existence. I wanted to be understood so badly. The photograph is a very flat boring object. I thought it was sacrilegious to direct someone in a photograph because, you know, this was the time of Winnogrand and Friedlander. Imagine how conservative photography was. I had people hold still at that time. I would count one one thousand, two one thousand. Finding the great subject is half the battle, someone who knows who they are and won't think too much about the camera. So I photographed these interiors that were around me. I hated bothering people. I'd go to friend's houses and theyíd say what do you want us to do and so I made up a narrative on the spot. I am looking for a dialogue between the art people have in their houses and the composition of people in their rooms. In 1985 I put a flash on top of the camera. Up until this point I did not want to be noticed. I got closer up. I started using strobe light and five bags of equipment and an assistant. I set up things so the eye of the viewer bounces around. I don't like making art about negative things. I always wonder if I am imaginative or not. The titles of my pictures I just don't care about; the main point isówhen I get to people I don't know well, I wanted to eliminate the names. I just throw a name out there that's big and wide and allows what kind of interpretation you want. Descriptive generic titles. I just got an email from this guy who I photographed, he is a doctor in Germany, and he saw the book and asked me, what is an armoire, which is the title of his portrait. He said he couldn't find it in the dictionary and I wonder what he thought it was.