Fitzgerald Photo

Victor Wilson, 50, a Navy veteran who fought his own battles with substance abuse before coming clean and counseling other men on the Yakama Reservation in Washington State. This was taken in 2005 as part of a multi-year project on the Men of the Yakama Nation and was never published (the tighter version was the frame published in the newspaper). Perhaps a harder read due to limited space on the page, I love the feel of this image more. Victor occupies the frame, dead-center, part of the scene but not overpowering it—a quiet hero. I made all of the portraits for the project with an old Kowa 6x6 medium format (film) camera, primarily using Fujichrome. I called the portraits, “One light wonders” because I lit them with a single light, balanced with whatever ambient light existed. It kept things simple, and created dramatic looks that used as much of the environment as possible to tell the story. I liked the deliberate process of shooting with a cranky but serviceable camera, and the delayed gratification of film too. You can tell a great story with simple light if your location and your subject are interesting enough. Victor certainly was that.

Last fall I photographed inventor Danny Hillis for the Financial Times—the inventor of the Clock of the Long Now (it’s as cool as it sounds).
The shoot came together last minute and I didn’t have much time with him, but made a variety of portraits; some with test components of his clock. The clock being build in Texas is designed to operate with little or no human intervention for 10,000 years.
The portrait the newspaper used was one I got after the shoot was basically over, when I noticed him going back to work in his home office. I love the busy, cluttered desk in an otherwise immaculately kept home and asked if I could get a few more portraits. Definitely an example of planning for success but being open to better opportunities that might unfold.

A few images from an assignment for the this summer featuring the luxury watches of Jason Wilbur and . Jason and I made images in his workspace at his family property in Vermont, and then was willing to try a portrait in his barn, holding a guitar he built at 16. I love that the Financial Times chose that portrait as their lead image. Here are a few more from the shoot.

Reposting a few images from Gov. Janet Mills (and one of Senator Angus King) during her reelection campaign back in 2022. She’s one tough lady.