I take candid portraits of people and families as they are during an ordinary day. And I photograph weddings and other special events. I am dedicated to capturing and preserving what is simple, fleeting, and intimate. I do not direct you or interfere during our time together, preferring to be as unobtrusive as possible and to let you direct the day. My goal is to preserve the authenticity and the extraordinary in the ordinariness of a day of your life.
I do not control the session. I spend time with you and let you show the camera something I couldn't possibly know or manufacture. The candid photographs reveal the particularity, sincerity, and intangibility of a moment in your life that otherwise would be lost to time. In order to preserve the integrity and authenticity of the moment, I do not add artificial lighting or stage the environment. The photographs are full-frame (uncropped), which I believe respects the integrity of the moment when the picture is taken.
I use film because I love the craft of black-and-white film photography, and the classic look of black-and-white film photographs just stands out. I use vintage Leica rangefinder cameras, and I use lenses made during the the heyday of black-and-white photography. These lenses produce classically beautiful photographs that give the subject a warmth and soft radiance that modern digital cameras and lenses cannot reproduce.
The best preparation is not to overprepare. Just prepare to do whatever feels natural to you, something that you would normally do during a day in your life. Perhaps you can plan the session around something that shows you as you are at this stage of your life: preparing or eating a meal, doing your work, helping the kids with homework, feeding the baby, or just simply spending time with a spouse or friend. In short, whatever seems natural to you, or whatever seems like a significant part of your life.
Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. You needn't wear anything special, and don’t fret over whether to wear the red or the green shirt. They are both rendered as gray on black and white film.
Not at all, if you don't want to. I will take some posed portraits upon request, but this should take no longer than ten minutes.
Special requests are possible if color photographs are important to you.