Editorial and Street Portraits
Making portraits is much more to me than a business. It’s a passion of mine that I pursue for my clients and in my personal work. That personal work is often the result of an editorial project built around a location or event. I approach it from a documentary perspective, preferring not to interfere or pose an image, but only capture what was occurring before me.
These projects align with my branding portraiture, building on the core idea of authenticity that I try to bring to each image. It ultimately boils down to moments that the camera is fundamentally designed to capture and what particular elements I’m looking to hold in that brief measure of time. I characterize those into three different types of personal moments.
Moments of Connection
Capturing that instantaneous connection that’s made when one person passes and acknowledges the other. It’s so quick and often completely unconscious, which makes it that much more transparent. A nod, a brief smile, or not… I think it speaks volumes on the person. I have to be quick to make the image before there is an awareness of the camera and the shields of self-consciousness rise.
Moments of Interaction
Photographing the often complex relationships between different people. Telltale expressions that you have to recognize before they occur.
I really focused on that with 21 Days : NYC really focused on that. Constantly moving through crowded New York streets, I averaged 7 miles each day in different parts of the city. Always walking, thinking about 5-10 seconds ahead, looking for interesting people and interactions, I would make my images as I moved through the scene, never looking through the camera.
Moments of Introspection
Finally, when time and circumstances allow, I will stop moving, meet someone new and spend a moment engaging and really working towards a portrait. I did that most during my recent North by Northeast project.
21 Days : NYC
I lived in NYC, working as an editorial photographer / videographer during the 90s. That decade there defined what I am today in almost every way. After returning to Baltimore, I wanted to see how the City had evolved.
On the 21st anniversary of my departure back to Baltimore, I went back for 21 Days to see what had changed and who remained.
21 Days : NYC was exhibited at a Solo show at the Baltimore Creative Alliance's Amalie Rothschild Gallery.
North by Northeast (NxNe)
I traveled 3500 miles exploring a part of Eastern Canada that I'd always wanted to experience. The resulting images focus on the beautiful landscapes and amazing people I met in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and along the Cabot Trail.
4 Days in LA
The series of images from different areas around Los Angeles, CA. I love shooting on the West Coast when I can. The light is very different there, taking on an almost crystalline quality that casts everything and everyone is sharp relief.
Hampden Centennial
I lived in Hampden for a couple of years. It's a former mill town of small Baltimore row homes, built for the workers who created sail cloth over a century ago. There were artists, poverty and violence. But also strange kindnesses, like when someone broke into my car and lived in it for a couple of days, but didn't take anything... So it was a real treat to be asked to shoot a "Day in the Life of Hampden" project to celebrate the Centennial of the town. The shoot ended with a show and one of my images became the postcard for the show invitation.
No Vacation Taken
Images of a vacation that never occurred. Following the loss of a loved one and a renewed realization of opportunities lost.
