My first book credit!!! It was a HUGE honor for me to photograph my friend and brilliant journalist Linda Hervieux in Paris this summer for her book. The cover photograph is by my all time hero of photography, Robert Capa, so this honor is doubly meaningful to me.

Linda's book shines light on the forgotten African American combat unit that landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day. It is a MUST read, available here: http://amzn.to/1GOMRCS. Detailed information on the brave men of the 320th can be found here: www.lindahervieux.com.

I also want to say a little bit about Robert Capa, whose work has had a profound influence on me. My first encounter with him was at an exhibition of his Spanish Civil War photographs at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid in 2003. I knew nothing about combat photography and in fact knew little about photography in general at that time. Like most travelers, I was snapping mediocre pics in full sun on a lousy point and shoot film camera. I think I even bought generic film from Walgreens; Kodak and Fuji too steep for my budget.

Looking at the people in Capa's photographs, whether they were loyalists waving Basque berets in tearful salute, women running from bombs in chunky 1920s heels, or couples sunning themselves with rifles cradled in their arms, I felt an intense presence of him on the other side of the camera. His gigantic heart was right there in front of me, beyond the picture and I could feel the admiration, curiosity, and empathy he felt for his subjects and it took my breath away. I remember thinking, "I want to see how he sees." Capa was a giant, a legend of a person and a photographer and I continue to be inspired by how he saw the world. To have my name right under his on a book jacket cover is nothing short of a miracle.