"A Brief History of Byron, IL" Photograph

I was born in Baghdad, Iraq. Living in central Baghdad, and not having a television, much of my time was spent at the cinema. My only creative outlet was my imagination and a bamboo flute. My family moved to Chicago when I was ten. My father took me to Maxwell Street on Sundays where there were bargains galore and also some of the best blues music ever being played in the street. More than the music, I was intrigued by the well-worn faces of the blues musicians. I bought a used Kodak Retina iiiC and started to take pictures. My subject was the city of Chicago. The cold bundled up faces on a blustery winter day. The tired and strained bodies of workers rushing to catch their bus or packing themselves onto a subway car. In school, I studied filmmaking, where I could fuse my musical interest with images. After many years of filmmaking, I am again involved with photography.