(2004- ongoing)

An extended portrait that spans from 2004 until the present, of a young man named Jeffrey Gray. A close friend that I had met very early on in New York and whom I immediately felt a great connection with. Jeffrey always had an intensity and an openness about him. That intensity was part of what attracted me to first start making photographs of him.

Jeffrey had been born with Crohn’s disease, creating a myriad of health problems, including spending part of his life with cirrhosis of the liver.

These photographs were shot throughout our early encounters in New York, when we were both new to the city, during our times as roommates and throughout the years prior to when he had to move away to be put on a transplant waiting list. On New Years of 2008 a match had been found and Jeffrey successfully had the operation that same day. His fast recovery aided him in being able to visit in May of 2008.

He now lives in Chicago. Despite the distance I have photographed him several times since his post-surgery visit, in Whispering Pines Rhode Island and recently at my home in Brooklyn.

With 7 years of portraits behind us, I can only anticipate what the future holds for us and these portrait sessions as we continue throughout chapters of adulthood that lay before us.