I made most of the portraits in this series in the vicinity of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1994. I was interested in the way people were using personal ads to look for love and companionship. I began to pay attention to the personals ads in local newspapers where individuals submitted a brief statement, often with only a few lines to describe themselves, who, and what they were looking for. For this project, I contacted people who had written ads that particularly interested me and asked to make a portrait. I wanted to see how my portraits would resonate with their own descriptions. By 1999, when I turned to this project again, personal ads were beginning to move from newspapers to the internet.
DWM 43. I’m a person that strongly believes responsibilities come before privileges. I work hard at being a good father and a good boyfriend. I believe in putting others first even ahead of myself. I get happiness out of making others happy. I do everything I can to help the people I am involved with. I do a lot of giving and require very little receiving. I am looking for similar traits in a woman that I hope to get involved with. A good girlfriend and mother and honest and also willing to give as well as receive. Also someone who is willing to work hard to get ahead in life because nothing is free today. I had a good friend give me advice that stuck in my mind. He said, “if you meet someone that’s willing to do as much to please you as you are to please them, she could possibly be the one.”
