I have spent most of my life making pictures of one thing or another.

I started out in photography a bit like Garry Winogrand, just being curious about ‘how things would look’ in a photograph. Also, my eyesight is poor(I am very near sighted..) and by making a photo I could see my subject with clarity and sharpness. Photographing ‘things’ turned into photographing places and eventually of course, people.

Oddly, (to me anyway), being in control of the lighting/posing/setting/wardrobe etc for shooting a portrait involves a greater degree of difficulty than going out looking for scenics or landscapes where none of those elements are in my control. Choosing a location, setting up the lights and creating a composition is like solving a three dimensional puzzle and it is a very fun challenge for me.

I have made portraits for forty-plus years of folks from just about everywhere, formal bridal portraits, informal outdoors, formals in the studio, high-key/low key, but my favorite has now become the environmental portrait. I love seeing people in their favorite environment, doing what they love. It is so gratifying to me, to do what I love, photographing people doing what they love too. And the stories are just the best.

Those eyes…sometimes when I meet someone I know right away that I want to make their photo. Not always, but in this case I couldn’t get her in front of my camera fast enough. There was an elegance about this woman that I had to try and capture.

Charles “Gatewood’ Brown.

This is an example of what happens when you just take time to talk to people. Somehow our conversation turned to our various past times and he mentioned that he played the sax. I asked him if he would bring it by the studio so I could maybe photograph it. Once he got there I asked him to play it and then of course we had to work on his album cover photo!

Peter McLaughlin. In bluegrass music no introduction or explanation is needed. From his home in Tucson to Spokane, SanDiego, and Nashville he is well known and respected by his peers. And no wonder, he is a past winner of the prestigious National Flatpicking Championship in Winfield, Kansas.

He is also generous with his time if you are a fellow picker and need a pointer or two. Or, a photographer who wants to invade your home and rearrange the furniture!

I am grateful to Peter for finding a couple of hours for me to drop by to make this portrait.

You can learn more about Peter and his music here

A long time ago in a galaxy…well, you know. When I was a much younger man I really enjoyed shooting weddings. They were stressful for sure, especially because ‘way back when’ we all shot film and had no idea until the film came back from the lab whether we’d done a good job or not.

I did two weddings for this family as the girls grew up and fell in love. This is my favorite bridal portrait. Kathy was just so happy to be marrying her ‘special man’, she glowed all day at the wedding and was a dream bride to photograph.

One of my jobs in the Navy was to shoot the official officer portraits for their service jackets. And since the photo was part of their review/promotion process I always wanted to do a good job.
Some were easier than others, and some, like this one, took some real cooperation from my subject. Dr Ghosh was a gem of a human being and a pleasure to know. He was so patient as I maneuvered the lights, his glasses, and his pose, to try and properly light his face and still get rid of the glare in his lenses. He is the only person I’ve ever met whose lenses were harder to photograph than mine!

And sometimes you just get lucky!

I saw a woman roll up to the local Harley dealer on a beautiful Softail and I asked her if I could photograph her bike. In retrospect it was a pretty easy question because most HD owners are pretty proud of their scooters and will pose for a photo in a heart beat!
Anyway, she and her hubby met me downtown in this alley and I spent an hour or so getting the lights in the right place for this image.
It’s not always about the people, but mostly it’s about the people.