Who The F*ck Is Elmo Tide

   Who the fuck is Elmo Tide? In reality I don't want to know but it's a personality I envy and would like to understand better.

   As far as the world knows Elmo Tide has produced one body of work and has publish a single book. He or she posted their photos on Flickr and then disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived. After some press on the book a lot of people tried to track down who this Elmo Tide was, but for me it was never necessary, and actually I didn't give it a thought. I liked the theme of his/her work and the photos themselves so why would I want to invade their privacy. Then I began to think of how envious I was of their solitude.

  A lot of people would like to go back to a point in time and start over but for this conversation my restart point is 1998, when I began to take photography seriously. Just the idea of starting over anonymously gives me a euphoric feeling, a grin on my face from ear to ear, and a drop in blood pressure. The thrill of keeping my identity a secret, a lifetime of work without a face attached to it and all without the bullshit internet hype, branding / marketing persona that is Banksy.

 And if anyone knows who Elmo Tide is, please keep it to yourself.