Cumming: To start off an idea, I would do a drawing, like a little pencil sketch. And I had made a promise to myself never to act on these ideas until I’d waited at least a month. I think about one drawing in five was actually made into a photograph. It was a good discipline for me because, you know, the newest idea was always fantastic, and I’d launch into this complicated prop and then realize in the middle, “This really sucks—what was I thinking?” So there was a pact to let each one simmer first as a drawing.
