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.