Category Archives: portrait

Last weekend I met Dr. Vanessa Perez.  Vanessa is a NYC-based professor of 19th and early 20th Caribbean Literature.  The moment she said that my mind started racing to see whether I could come up with some author that might fit into that category.  Not even close, so I kept my mouth shut and kept shooting.  Vanessa wanted some headshots to gear up for (and maybe include in) her upcoming book: Hispanic Caribbean Literature of Migration: Narratives of Displacement. It turned out to be a glorious day in the park, so I shot way more than a few images.  Vanessa was a fantastic subject and was even thoughtful enough to  bring bottles of water for the shoot, which would have been a really nice touch for the photographer to have taken care of.  Hmm.  I can’t say that I learned much about Caribbean Lit, though.  Maybe I’ll have to pick up a copy of the book when it debuts later this year.  Congratulations, Vanessa.  And of course a special shout out to Serene, my very capable assistant, for helping me with lighting, gear, and entertaining the talent.

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I was lucky enough to meet and photograph this BEAUTIFUL little girl over the weekend!  Leila Louise is clearly adorable and one of the most patient 10-month olds I’ve ever met.  Thanks to Lolomi and Dennis for inviting me down to San Jose to capture these images and for being so cool during the shoot.  What made this shoot even cooler is that Lolomi is a longtime friend.  It’s a real treat to see her building a wonderful family of her own.  See you soon, Leila!

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  • Johanne

    This kid is so cute – and so well captured here!

I know I should delete more photos.  I know it.  Dealing with too many at once slows down my machine, I can’t tag them all before filing them away, and literally 95 out of 100 never get seen more than once.  But every deletion party has its rediscoveries.  Moment’s when I wonder what I was thinking to have passed over a certain shot the first time around.  Maybe I thought another in the series was better.  Or it wasn’t what I thought the client might like.  Or maybe I’m just in a different mood.  While deleting 1200+ images last night, as each called out to be spared for the chance at a future moment of fickle fondness, I was stopped in my tracks by this portrait.  The wall’s textures, the dramatic shadows, the highlights in Lisa’s hair…I love it all.  For some reason, I moved right past it the first time around.  It didn’t even make it to the second round.  Totally unconsidered.  Oh well.  Today, its a winner.  I can’t say that my mood always impacts what I like to look at, but what I just described happens often enough for me to know that it definitely plays a part.  And that’s one of the things that I love about photography…one of its most powerful little secrets.   Like any language, you can learn as much or more about the person behind the camera as the subject if you “talk” to their photos long enough.

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  • Akintayo Adewole

    Excellent save.