"I used to find it hard to understand why Jocelyne accepted me as a photographer at her agency in 1986. I had little to no experience as a young and dumb photographer who said he wanted to be a photojournalist. I had slightly more than two years of wire service work under my belt, which I had done in Latin America as a $15-per-photo stringer. It certainly could not have been the boring black & white prints of news photos I sent over the UPI and Reuters wires which I had presented to her as a portfolio during a personal interview at her office/home.

And over the years, as I reviewed the early work I had done for her it seemed to only puzzle me more. Especially since 98% of the work was improperly exposed, out of focus, poorly framed, without color, without saturation, the list could go on and on. But within weeks of joining JB Pictures I had my first photos published in a news magazine. I was jetting to foreign countries on assignment and making an income and living a life I could only dream about before.

I guess she figured I was either really stupid to have walked into her office with such a pathetic set of photos or she saw in me a hunger and passion to be a news photographer to such an extent that she decided to help me rather than show me the door. Few people are willing to give a young shooter that kind of a chance. But that is what Jocelyne and JB Pictures was all about. "