"Whoever said that pictures say a thousand words should have trademarked it, because today he'd be rich."

Lorenzo Hough may be a photographer, but that doesn't stop him from using several thousand words to expound upon his passions, whether they be digital photography, Philly jazz or high school basketball. Hough is a natural born salesman, gregarious and charming, skills honed over the course of decades spent in a variety of careers, from marketing to management to social work.

Hough's latest venture is Philadelphia Jazz Fabric, a collection of prints and T-shirts featuring his own digitally manipulated photos of local jazz musicians. The collection currently includes everyone from legendary pianist McCoy Tyner to hometown sax hero Bootsie Barnes to vocalist/promoter Val Ray to John Coltrane's Cousin Mary.

"They're all fibers in the fabric of jazz," explains Hough. "Philadelphia is maintaining its historical position as a mecca of jazz. The music is alive and strong, and my pictures are just documenting the people who are doing it for posterity. And hopefully maybe [bringing in] a couple dollars here and there."

Hough didn't even own a camera until 1998, when he was given a 2.1 megapixel Hewlett Packard as a gift by his "very significant other." Prior to that, he was "Mr. Disposable," snapping shots of the children in his community youth programs. But when he discovered the immediate gratification of digital photography and the creative possibilities of photo software, he was hooked.

Hough learned the impact of photography at an early age from his father's photo albums, which documented his time spent as a medic in the Korean War. "He didn't have a gun. He had the red cross on his hat, but from time to time he would be stuck in a foxhole, sometimes with dead or dismembered people. And he began taking pictures of them."

Hough's older sister was a big influence. "She was ahead of her time, and as a result she introduced me to things that people weren't even into yet," like Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. In addition, she graduated from the photography program at Antonelli Institute and, according to Hough, "is still slightly dismayed that I've been able to accomplish the things that I've been able to accomplish with a digital camera, without ever going to school and hocking my life and paying a tuition for what I learned."

At times, Hough's digital manipulation abstracts his photographs to the point where they could pass for paintings. "I am definitely trying to relieve it of its box of photography, and through software you can do that. And I was blessed with luck and a quick shutter finger. It takes a lot of playing slideshows through the thousands and thousands of pictures you have to see one that has an element in some part of it that you can extract with software and elaborate on."

Booths at outdoor jazz shows and festivals are currently the main outlet for Philadelphia Jazz Fabric merchandise. Hough plans a Web site and is in the process of placing items in his eBay store, "Damn Good Deal." He also prints his phone number and e-mail address on the back of each shirt, turning them into self-sustaining billboards. He says that he decided to start marketing his photos at the urging of the musicians themselves.

Hough also hopes that one day his collection will be exhibited in the Philadelphia Art Museum, or the Jazz Museum in Harlem. "Maybe if my collection sells, I'll be able to travel the world with the exhibit and allow people to meet the artist after the show." Laughing, he adds, "I'll sign pictures for large amounts of money. Extraordinary amounts of money. In yen or pounds."

As a young man, Hough would use his sister's mascara to draw on a moustache and sneak into jazz clubs, never imagining that one day he would be documenting and in some cases befriending the very same musicians. "Somewhere along the line, God willing, people will look at this collection and say, 'He really captured his moment in time.' I couldn't capture it before and when I'm gone, no more clicking — but while I'm here, I'll help memorialize people that may not get that otherwise."