I don't like to take pictures of people, because they pose and I feel awkward and then nothing is natural or artistic.

If someone hands me a phone to snap their happy group, I don't mind; I'll take half a dozen, hoping one will be half-decent. So it isn't that I lose a sense of connection. I like that they're having fun and trusting me to capture the moment. It's that my style has never been about posing.

It's one reason I'm not photogenic. I prefer to pretend I'm not being photographed - and that means most photos come out unflattering, I guess.

The phoniness of holding a smile expressly for the camera - it makes me squirm, even when I enjoy it and hope the photo turns out well. I avoid photo ops.

And I avoid putting people in those photos by not trying to take them. Almost all my photos are of plants and streets and skies and waters and oddities.

Sometimes I get photos of people who don't know or don't care that I'm photographing. But I try not to be a voyeur. I feel strange about a photo showing a stranger enough they could be identified. So I'm not trying to take photos like that, either.