US Department of The Treasury Building for BusinessWeek

I've been working the past few weeks on a series of portraits for the new issue of (Bloomberg) BusinessWeek and was happy to see how everything came out when my issue arrived yesterday. The shoots brought me down to Capitol Hill twice, the Federal Reserve, FCC and finally to the Treasury Building where a planned day of shooting interiors turned into a day shooting the outside of the building. I've been thinking a little about the nature of these interactions with politicians and other public figures and to what degree I should (or can) impose some level of control on them.

Senators Bob Corker and Mark Warner for BusinessWeek

Most of my working method involves finding an interesting setting or visual idea, placing the subject into this space and seeing what happens. Besides some minor direction in terms of posture and directing their gaze, I tend to let the subject settle naturally into whatever pose or expression feels right to them.


Pat Parkinson for BusinessWeek

The problem with this is that for all the control I impose with the lighting and environment, I'm leaving the more interesting elements like body language and expression to the subject. In some ways, I think this approach comes from my photojournalistic background, where I never controlled a subject or photo and was always content to just hang tight and wait for things to happen. The issue here lies with the media savvy politician who is hyper aware of how they're are portrayed and will rarely give me something meaningful to work with.

At least, that's how I used to think.

The more basic truth is that we are all human (I know, I know, is it possible to be more obvious?) and that it's just plain difficult for even the most seasoned public figure to completely stage manage their life and how they're portrayed. Furthermore, subjects continually surprise me in how they act in front of the camera, often doing way more interesting things than I could ever have planned for. Just like in photojournalism, it goes back to the personal connection with the subject, anticipating the real moments and being honest and upfront with them about your desire to create something meaningful.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for BusinessWeek

And if your subject decides to use the time scheduled for your photo shoot to hold a meeting with their communications director, maybe the best you'll get is them adjusting their tie.

All of these shoots resulted in some more shots I liked, here are a few of them.

Smithfield CEO Larry Pope for BusinessWeek

"This is where we always shoot the pictures."

To the editorial photographer, I'm not sure there are eight words more depressing than these, as you're led to yet another conference room, with the same fluorescent lights, tired wall art and dusty, plastic tree in the corner.

Typically, this is where the negotiation begins - the polite request for a tour of the office, the hope for something that might catch your eye, and the gentle suggestions that the best photo might be on the roof, or among the office park's creative landscaping, or anywhere, anywhere except under those buzzing lights.

So when I was called by BusinessWeek to photograph the CEO of the largest pork producer in the world, and I'd just driven a long four hours through hard rain with the expectation of hearing just that phrase, it felt heaven-sent to have a kind secretary welcome me in from the rain, saying, "You can shoot wherever you want."

Even better, when not 30 feet from the door sits the aforementioned pig. I ended up shooting two other setups throughout the office, but it was clear the pig won and I'll happily take another dozen conference rooms for another opportunity like this one.

Last September, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, watching a nearly blind eight year old boy named Corey Haas as he clung tightly to his mother, tears streaming down his face while a nurse stamped a large, red "X" on the left side of his face to ensure surgery would be performed on the correct eye.

Soon after, I photographed surgeon Dr. Maguire as he made a small incision in Corey's eye and injected billions of copies of genetic code into his retina in an attempt to correct the genetic disorder that prevented Corey from seeing anything past a few inches in front of him.

As I wrote when the story came out, the surgery was experimental, and bore the risk of his eyesight becoming even worse.

A year later, the results are in, and Corey can see.

It's not often that you get to see how a story plays out from beginning to end, and I feel fortunate to have met this family and am in awe of the amazing doctors and researchers whose years of work has resulted in a little boy who can now play baseball and ride his bicycle.

The full set of gene therapy photos are here.

I was reminded recently of the importance of having a good back up plan when doing outdoor shoots. With the moonsoon-like weather we had in DC earlier this summer, there's no getting around the fact that it could go from sunny and humid to torrential downpour in the course of a few minutes.

After having a few close calls on the weather, my luck ran out during a shoot with lobbyist Steve Elmendorf for BusinessWeek. I had scouted out a few nice spots along K Street to photograph him and had worked out a walking plan and lighting set up for each that would allow my assistant to be mobile while hauling a softbox and light mounted on a boom pole, and a battery pack over his shoulder.

Steve arrived on time and we spent a couple of minutes talking about the shoot then headed across the street to our first location. At that point, the skies opened up and my dream of a multiple setup shoot went out the window as we retreated to a building overhang that was our backup spot.

Certainly there was nothing ideal about how the rest of the shoot went, but I was reminded (again) that location portraiture is a series of improvisations and it's not the obstacles themselves, but how one responds that ultimately determine the success or failure of a shoot.

Steve Elmendorf for BusinessWeek

1. Three images of mine were selected for the American Photography 25 "Tribute" Site (here's hoping they make this into a usable site, rather than the Photoshop Web site template abomination it is now).

2. Search Magazine published my China water pollution photo essay and story online and in print.

3. My photograph of SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro came out in BusinessWeek.


4. ... as did a photo from a enjoyable afternoon I spent with journalists Claire Shipman and Katty Kay at Kay's house. The two of them recently finished a book on finding a balance between home and professional life.