In 1981 I decided to do my Grand Tour. The term is a reference to the European aristocratic classes from the 17th through the early 19th who sent their young, wealthy sons around the big famous cities for the purpose of an extended education and as a rite of passage.

Being neither aristocratic and by no means wealthy, in fact the opposite, I wanted to take a trans Europe trip by train. At that time many young people were “roughing it” across the continent with backpacks on their backs and “Let’s Go Europe” in their hand, the bible for exactly that kind of journey, listing every possible museum, inexpensive restaurant, and ‘pensiones” that matched the tiny budgets.

My plan was for three months, beginning in the fall of that year. Until then I was using a Canon EF with a 50mm lens. Even with a limited wardrobe and necessities, the back pack was already bursting at the seams and quite heavy for long treks, so I decided to purchase the newly available Olympus XA, a small clamshell camera with manual features, and an excellent lens, which made it ideal for this adventure. I was hooked on not only small cameras, but also on the “snapshot” aesthetic. In fact for many years I used to boast that my middle name was “SNAPSHOT.”

Steven and Dixon - Paris - November 8, 1981

Self-Portrait in a shop window in Florence, Italy - November 20, 1981

In 2019, Gabriel Florenz, the Chief Curator at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook, Brooklyn NY, presented my Genesis of Digital Photography archive, and in it was a vitrine of all my point-and-shoot digital cameras, which I began using in 2001 to photograph my regular Wednesday night party, Mondo 107, on top of the World Trade Center, at The Greatest Bar on Earth on the 107th Floor. For several years after I favored these small pocket sized cameras for anything more professional due to their ease of use and mobility. Granted the quality left a lot to be desired, but the “snapshot” in me was still in love with that aesthetic. Interestingly enough, there is a significant resurgence in that aesthetic and young generations are combing through second hand stores and online to acquire these cameras and are sharing them en masse on social media.

The photographs in this gallery are from 2004 and 2005, a time when I never left home without my camera and recorded almost everything in my visual path. As a photographer, I was always alert and ready to capture. I loved the hunt of both mundane and extraordinary moments, and the small camera, which simply became an extension of my arm posed no threat, specially at a time when camera phones were still in the distant future.