In my childhood pictures, I was usually the one in the background making a silly face. It seemed boring just to stand there - more interesting instead to break out and do something unexpected. In turn, I like to encourage the people I photograph to do something different...to let loose...to do something just for the fun of it. These are the pictures that I find most intriguing and revealing. As a photographer, I'm always striving to capture that instant when someone is just that genuine.

It's then, for however short a time, that they're free from their celebrity. These people are always glamorized - the lighting, the angle, the skin, the body - they usually look so perfect. Instead I wanted to do something that would reveal another part of their personalities. The disguises were the way into the rare moment just to goof around.

Some of these portraits took only ten minutes to shoot and a few of them took more than thirty. In a lot of them, we simply laughed and lived in the moment and said, "Hell, yeah, let's do that." The truth is I learned so much about each person by what they were willing to do and by how far they were willing to go. When someone's open and willing to let their guard down, you can discover something real - something essential about them.

One thing I learned from my Grandfather and from life is that the less guarded we are with each other, the more joyful our experience is. This book is about that joy. I hope people have as much fun experiencing the book as I had making it.