TUFF was photographed in New York and Miami between 1997 and 2001, and features many recognizable faces and events including the 9/11 disaster of 2001, the 2000 Puerto Rican Day Parade and various car crashes and accidents in and around NY. It also features actors Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel; models Kwame, Spawn and Stacy McKenzie; rappers Ice T, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Andre 3000 and Big Boi of the group Outkast, all of whom were photographed while I worked as a freelance photographer and magazine editor contributing to magazines like Russell Simmons OneWorld and Mass Appeal.



Photographed using an array of devices including disposables, point and shoots and large format cameras, the images were made in a time of excess and nonchalance: the near-end of the Clinton Era as well as the beginning of the Bush 2 Era.



TUFF functions pentagonally as a memoir, a documentation of the shift in Hip-Hop culture and world consciousness vis-a-vis 9/11, an artist book and as a presentation of Nostalgia, a longing for the past that is sometimes fuzzy or distorted. Therefore images in TUFF are presented as they were rediscovered: profoundly altered by day to day living: negatives are scratched or are filthy with crud and prints serve as the singular proof that an event occurred. I feel that in this regard and presentation, the images are given a life of their own, unaltered save for exposure compensation for printing purposes.



TUFF's incarnation will be dual: here first as a limited edition hardback of 122 pages, then later as an affordable softcover printed magazine/tabloid of 88 pages. The latter is apt because many of the images were intended for newspapers and magazine consumers.



A detailed image listing of both incarnations of TUFF may be found at CacyForgenie.com