“I have been collecting images since 1970. That summer I went on a 6 week teen bus tour of the United Sates with my first SLR, a Yashica Electro X, and brought back thousands of images with the idea of creating a body of painted work. This never materialized but my love of art and photography has grown larger every year.“ Ira Goldstein has had a strong interest in art since 1968 when his father opened his first art materials store changing Ira’s life forever in many ways. In high school, he took many art classes as well as four years of photography classes. Taking full advantage of everything New York had to offer, he frequented galleries and art museums while working at his father’s store. This allowed him opportunities to meet many artists and discuss their work and concepts. In 1973, Ira began a four-year program in professional photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. The program at RIT taught him more than just the actual making of photographs; it also covered the