Chicken Negotiation
This is what happens when your reasonable plan falls through and the high-risk backup is a welcome Plan B. (Or, how to find a live chicken in the suburbs.)
Anton Corbijn 2023
The thought of seeing Anton Corbijn again after 35 years made me very nervous. If this went badly, it would haunt me.
RockCritics.com Interview
A double interview with Rick McGinnis and myself about our early music portraits, on rockcritics.com
Intern Testimonials 2023
Working with engaged and curious interns is one of the joys of my job. Here are some recent testimonials.
Robert Kennedy Jr, The Atlantic Session
When we met nearly thirty years before he was a reluctant spokesman for NY water conservation, now he was a presidential candidate with controversial takes.
Robert Kennedy Jr, More Sittings
This second post features images and stories from the three sessions between our initial meeting and the recent sitting.
Robert Kennedy Jr, First Session
The first of my five sittings with RFK Jr, for New York Magazine in 1995. Here is what I wrote at the time …
Dave Heath Interview (1996)
Dave Heath was a great photographer and perhaps an even better teacher. I interviewed him at the ten year mark of our acquaintance.
Capturing Connie Wang
When Connie asked me to make her author portrait I was thrilled, but also nervous - could I capture her ineffable quality?
John LaMacchia Interview
The creative director as artist: LaMacchia on how his works “celebrate the subversive potential of beauty and the profane.”
Joe Kahn, Reclining Figure
He’s photographed on his dining room floor with the Sunday paper; a pose that would launch a thousand tweets.
On Phil McAbee
He was one of the few people I didn’t feel I needed to impress or prove myself to. With him now gone, there is a defined void in the world.
Eminem, 1999
We started with a decent (if strange) idea that got watered down into a cheesy literal one.
Jay-Z, Marcy Houses, 1998
We know intellectually that it was made when he was already a success, it looks like “Jay-Z before he became Jay-Z.” It’s Shawn Carter at home!
Going Raw
It was I who was triple checking practical checklists, while they were confirming that we are doing the one with fire.
First Workshop Demo
The participants were astonished when I had his shirt off within a couple of minutes, and I was surprised that I let him keep his pants on.
“Future Pop” with Peter Noble
Marketed as a guide to New Wave “Future Pop” is a fantastic time capsule of the early eighties music scene.
The “Surprise” of the Workshop
The Workshop is a welcoming environment where vulnerabilities and awkwardness are not only supported but embraced.
Workshop Testimonials
With the LA-based “The Surprising Portrait” workshop around the corner, testimonials from previous participants.
A Bronx Tale
New York is giving priority for cannabis licenses to those previously charged with weed-related offenses; we photographed over a dozen applicants.