Charles A. Sessoms
The pictures I make are intended to be gentle pictures. I am primarily interested in documenting ordinary people and ordinary circumstances in natural settings. When people are unaware or disinterested in the presence of the camera there is something genuine being expressed that is lost when they are preoccupied with being photographed. I try to capture those moments in an attempt to give an honest representation of what I see and understand from my own experiences and the experiences of others. I have been influenced by a number filmmakers and photographers whose work I admire though I don't claim to copy or follow their lines of thinking or practice. Among the filmmakers there is Stan Brakage, John Cassavettes, Elaine May and also Ken Jacobs who was one of my teachers; among the photographers there is Roy DeCarava, Mary Ellen Mark, Diane Arbus and Gordon Parks. Ultimately Lorna Simpson and David Hammons are the contemporary artists I admire the most.

In an earlier incarnation I made films and TV programs for a number of Public Television and Cable TV operations including WETA TV, WNET TV, The Children's Television Workshop and Nikelodeon.

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