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There is a common image of the modern day sword fighter as a white-bibbed fencer, but delve beyond that and you will discover a growing culture of practitioners of what is known collectively as Western Martial Arts. They train with rapiers, longswords, axes, knives, batons, and even walking sticks; but what binds them together is the desire to learn and improve, both as fighters and as human beings. "At its surface old swordplay is the study of lethal violence. As you delve deeper it becomes a journey of holistic personal development. The original Spanish master [Carranza] said that Destreza was a method for improving the young men of Spain for the good of the kingdom. If you train a student, you transmute the potential for violent destruction into knowledge, personal growth, and creation. That is the great paradox of the sword; it is an extension of the person. Ultimately, learning to know the sword is learning to know yourself." - Puck Curtis The title of this series is derived from the Italian word for sword fighter, giocatore, translating directly as 'player'. The practice of sword fighting is often referred to as swordplay, but the strata of practioners ranges from lifelong masters to quite literal weekend warriors. View the full series at the SWORD PLAY microsite.

Too often are the people of Georgia portrayed as peasants struggling to emerge from Soviet oppression. Spending time in the cities and villages revealed a different reality; one that I wanted to capture in this series of portraits of every day Georgian people from three distinct regions. The hawk-nosed old man selling potatoes out of the back of a beat up old Volga can still be found, and the country is indeed experiencing the aftermath of violent conflict, but Georgians on the whole are optimistic and cheerful; preferring to choose stylish clothing and welcoming attitudes over drab fabrics and depression. These portraits represent the average population I encountered in the wine region of Kakheti, the central Imereti, and the mountainous Svaneti. These are but 24 of more than 60 portraits that were made in Georgia. Other images will soon appear in various exhibitions and print projects.

I wasn’t content with the increasing number of photos of funny signs, strange costumes, and radical behaviour I kept seeing captured by a lot of the photographers visiting the various Occupy protests. A movement like Occupy is about people more than it is about signs and masks, and hopefully the portraits in this series represent a picture of the ethnic, financial, and age demographics that felt it necessary to make the trip downtown in support of something they believe in, or just couldn’t help but spectating.

"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

These images were commissioned by clients.