The photographer was born in Manhattan not long after VJ-Day and spent his early years near Chinatown before moving to a small island off the east coast of the United States in 1950.He is the product of 17 years of Catholic education none of which included photography course, although he once passed out on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

He is, therefore, essentially self-taught as a photographer.

 

At present, he is - in a kind of Hemingway-esque way - a former ambulance driver. Because his great-grandmother's maiden name was Picasso, he fancies himself related to Pablo. No one else thinks so.

 

All his pets have died.

 

He lives near a vacant lot.