Just got my film back from the Gulf Coast and took a quick look. I was hoping to shoot mostly film on my trip, but had a camera malfunction as my Mamiya 6 got doused with water while I was out kayaking one day. Thankfully the camera survived, and the result was a few altered images including the first one here.

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.

MGM/Mirage CEO Jim Murren for BusinessWeek
MGM/Mirage CEO Jim Murren is leading the construction of CityCenter, a casino/hotel project that will add 4800 hotel rooms to Las Vegas. It's the largest privately-funded construction project in the US and has faced numerous setbacks, including loss of funding, and faulty construction that will limit the size of one of the buildings. The success of the project and the company's future are intertwined, and he is understandably under tremendous pressure to see the project through to completion.



My editor has suggested shooting some white seamless and I played a bit with the borders as well as continuing an exploration of some darker lighting schemes. Here's a couple more I liked.

I woke up to the sad news this morning of Ted Kennedy's passing. While I only covered him for the past four years here in DC, I was always struck with his graciousness and patience in dealing with the press.

I photographed more than a few press conferences where the other politicians had already left and he stayed after to answer the reporter's questions. He seemed to relish this contact rather than shy away from it like so many others. Here are just a few favorite images I've made of him.

day 3 in South Carolina

My time in South Carolina was spent in fog and overcast skies, driving down highways lined with pine trees growing in the sandy soil. 1100 miles covered over two and half days and the constant struggle to distill political theater into substance.