I met Dan at Tea and Stories which is hosted by Hope Community here in Minneapolis. He is one of a diverse group of people who attend weekly on Thursday afternoon. Dan has had a rough life which he is very open about and willing to share with anyone who is interested. His dog Lucas is central in his life. Lucas may be the first being in his life for a long time that he feels the need to give care. Lucas is like another person to him, as important as a child or sibling.

Pet ownership during a time of healing or restoration of one’s life is a powerful thing to witness. People who otherwise may be difficult to handle or lack social cues will exhibit a part of their humanity that was hidden for most of their lives.

Dan asked me to do a formal portrait of Lucas and I was honored to give that to him. But I thought the better opportunity was to do a portrait of these two good friends.

Early in my career I was very fortunate to be aligned with extraordinarily talented and connected people. Partnering with up-and-coming magazines and publications, talented makeup artists and unique personalities provided me with a never ending set of opportunities for creative photo shoots.

It also helped that, at that time, downtown warehouse spaces were so reasonably priced that even a rough studio could be located near the heart of Minneapolis. It was easy to meet interesting people by just walking down the street. And that I did.

I met Rana through a mutual friend and colleague. She was a working actress, which I find to be the best subjects to work with. I found her striking.

The most interesting, talented young people move fast. So as a photographer you have to move fast and get them into the studio before they vanish to another city or thin air.

We did two shoots together. This was our first one. I don’t think it was possible to take a bad photo of her. Every frame was good but I found this image to be the “one”. I wish we could have done more work together but…

For all the techies: I used a Pentax 6×7, Plus-x film, Broncolor mono-lights, one with a soft box and one small umbrella – both to camera left.

The cloud, the stillness that must part
The darling of my life from me;
And then to thank God from my heart,
To thank Him well and fervently;
From “On the Death of Anne Brontë” by Charlotte Brontë

On August 29, Cindy Rae, friend and colleague, died from a short but brutal fight with cancer. Our friendship and professional relationship spanned almost 3 decades. The world will seem a little less without her in it.

I had just started my photo studio when I met Cindy. She was working for a modeling agency as an instructor. She brought many of her classes to my studio in downtown Minneapolis. She was an excellent make up artist working in the commercial, advertising, corporate, fashion and film industries. As you can tell she got around. Cindy was well known and highly respected.

We worked together on many personal and commercial shoots for years. Whenever I had a shoot that required make up Cindy was my very first call. I could depend on her to deliver high quality in a very professional manner.
Some of you may know this but a lot really don’t – a make up artist is more than just that. On the set a really pro make up artist is a collaborator with the photographer. She is the person who soothes the subject during make up. She is the second set of eyes during the shoot, catching fly away hairs and make up touch ups. She also contributes aesthetically through out the shoot. Working in so many studios as she did, Cindy was the most valuable make up artist of all to me.

As I wound down my career as a commercial photographer we worked less and less together. However she would have me shoot an annual Christmas family portrait for several years in a row.

In recent years we saw less and less of each other, talking on the phone now and then and of course liking and commenting to each other on Facebook. It brightened my day to see her posts.

The last time I saw her was at a Starbucks. We had coffee and visited for a couple of hours.

Cindy not only worked with me and befriended me, she supported me during ups and downs. Whether it was about drumming up business or personal issues. She would always make time for me. She made me feel she believed in me. I don’t think I could ever repay all the goodwill she showed to me.

Like everyone else I will miss her terribly and regret that I didn’t make time to see her more often in recent months. Her exuberance, commitment, kindness, respect for me as an artist and photographer and her friendship will live forever in my heart.

I spoke about my trust with Cindy. Cindy honored me with the trust to take a prenatal photo when she was pregnant with her first born, Luke. I have never seen a woman wear her pregnancy so beautifully.

Cindy, you will forever have a special place in my heart!

Watching movies and Tv throughout my life I always noticed strong light and shadow that emanated from windows. Especially light filtered through venetian blinds. I often thought it was funny on Tv shows that had this kind of splash of light from venetian blinds but no reference to a window. Sometimes they would appear in a room that couldn’t have windows. It must have been a lighting designer’s joke to see if anyone was paying attention.

From the very beginning of my photo career as an independent commercial photographer I gravitated to what I then referred to as Hollywood Style lighting. Not for my corporate work but in my personal approach to portraits. I felt that this style. I am returning to that style of lighting but now I refer to it as Noire.

Hopefully in the future I will be able to create images that evoke hazy, dark rooms with streaks of light that reveal the subject matter in a a mysterious Noire way.

This is Michelle. I met her through a makeup artist, which happened a lot. Michelle had a really cool studio full of vintage stuff. At the time I was often carrying a long set of venetian blinds and a faceable spot light to shine through them. It was hard to get believable light if there wasn’t enough room to work. This time it worked out.

 About this Image

This was shot on daylight Ektachrome. I liked shooting these type of images with tungsten lamps and daylight film to get a certain warm color. Now, in Photoshop, the image can be desaturated and controlled by me, not a lab.

In 2004 I went to Stockholm, Sweden  for a very short trip. A friend of mine, Mercies May, concocted a way to get me there on the cheap for a weekend. I left on Thanksgiving evening and was there till the following Monday.

I met Zimmi during my short trip through Mercies. Both of these guys were/are performers but Mercies was working with Zimmi (or Simon as Mercies liked to call him) to help him with his career. My contribution was to take some urban images of Zimmi that he could use for promotion.

As I recall, Zimmi had lost his entire family and had to flee Uganda when he was very young. He came to Stockholm and was taken in by an aunt. Uganda is a multi-lingual country. Zimmi could speak his native Ugandan language, Swedish and English very well. In fact everyone I met in Sweden, immigrant or not, could speak multiple languages could speak beautiful English.

About the Images

Mercies found a really cool looking futuristic subway tunnel which offered some very good reflections, The lighting was challenging so I had to shoot with a tripod and at a high ISO.

One of my early clients was NuVo for Hair salon. The owner, Gina Zaffarano, gave me some very nice opportunities to showcase my creativity. Most of the time we would shoot NuVo’s ads on location but I wanted to do a studio portrait of Gina. I thought she had a Hollywood face. In this photo she reminds me a little of Judy Garland.