This was a quick, natural light portrait made at Columbia University moments before Elcott’s final lecture for the semester on the history of modern photography. It was staged very much in the spirit of Arnold Newman. I saw the bookshelf both as the wings of a magna character (ready to do battle) and a great weight on his shoulders (So much to read. So much to know. So much to write).

This portrait was part of a gift for two friends who are having a baby. They are renovating part of their house while pregnant and its creating quite a tumult. However, within that space I noticed a lot of calm between them, so I positioning them together curled up on the floor of a room being painted and shot from the ladder that was already in the room. Looking back, I would have like to move the barrel as it draws the eyes away from the couple, but it also adds to the sense of disorder in the house.

Following are thirteen of my favorite shots from a recent one day shoot of 75 artists in their studios during San Francisco Open Studios in the Mission District. All images were taken with existing light.  That presented challenges as many of the studios weren’t ideally lit.  Additionally, I tried to limit myself to no more than three exposures per artist, ensuring that I framed things mindfully and gave myself enough time to shoot as many artists as possible.  The entire set can be seen here

Taken while waiting in line at Jamba Juice. “You can take my portrait, as long as it’s over before I get my juice.”

I often push my subjects to have their portrait taken when they’re feeling less than 100%. Well, I tried it on myself this week.

As I was getting an espresso at Vega on Folsom Street, I noticed that the winter sun hit was hitting the barrista right in the eyes, leaving the rest of the small cafe in shadows. I asked if I could take her portrait and she agreed. Unlike studio portraits, environmental portraits leave a lot out of your control – lighting, background, even the subject. In an ideal situation, I would have positioned her eyes to reflect in the shiny counter top and removed the rag in the foreground. For this shot, though, I was happy to just wait until her eyes entered the light. Her gaze to the left was not directed, but it made for an even better image than the others where she looked directly into the lens.