"He doesn't speak much English, so you'll need a translator at the shoot."

"Once you meet him, he may or may not agree to the shoot."

"You can call him Paul, but that's not his real name."

"We want a good portrait of him, but you can't show his face or anything else that will identify him."

These were the instructions I received on this recent story I worked on for The Washington Post Magazine that was published on Sunday. I was again working with one of my favorite photo editors, Evan Jane Kriss who stressed the sensitivity of the situation and the very real possibility that the subject might back out of the shoot.

I met Paul and the translator outside of a metro stop in DC. Paul is a Cameroonian refugee and victim of torture who escaped from his country after being brutally beaten by members of the police force. Reporter Phil Zabriskie had been talking to him and other torture victims over the past year in working on this story.

We spoke for a bit and he agreed to be photographed at his home. I had been experimenting most of the day with different lighting setups involving silhouettes, blown highlights and other visual tricks that would conceal his face, but when we arrived at the small room that he rented from a family, it was clear he wanted the photos taken quickly, with minimal setup.

The room was dimly lit and I was able to set up a few hot lights to bring up the levels a bit before shooting the portraits. I had seen a street lamp outside that I thought might make for a good setup as well and we shot there briefly before wrapping up. Looking at these photos now, I'm not so sure that the complicated lighting setups would've done much justice to him or the modest bedroom where he lived, thousands of miles away from his family.

The story also brought me to Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma in Baltimore, where amazing work is being done in helping torture victims deal with the traumatic situations they've been through. Karen Hansom and Mary Cogar exemplify the good that can be done in helping other people.

As we were wrapping up with Paul, he smiled and said something to the translator.

"Paul just heard from his family yesterday. They've been granted visas and will be coming to America."

You can read Phil's story here, and below are a few more of my favorite photos.








Karen Hanscom and Mary Cogar of Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma

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.

I've always found birthdays to be a better time to reflect on the past year and make plans for the new one. In that sense, it's been a quiet change over to 2010 as I've already tried to pursue some new ideas in my photography and lay plans for the upcoming year. A big part of this plan is to continue to figure out what kind of photographs I like to make and to make time for personal projects that allow me to poke at the edges of the way I look at the world.

But more succinctly, the goal for this year is to work, as in "the only rule is work."

A few BusinessWeek tearsheets came in over the last weeks of 2009 that all in some way speak to the economic times we live in.


Ken Feinberg for BusinessWeek


Vivek Kundra, Jeffrey D. Zients and Aneesh Chopra for BusinessWeek


Human Resources expert Deborah Stallings for BusinessWeek

Last June, I received a call from Melissa Gray, a producer at NPR's All Things Considered. She was in the end stages of writing a cookbook and needed some photographs of her at work in the kitchen and at NPR. The book came out of her attempt to bake a new cake for her colleagues at ATC every Monday for a whole year, which she succeeded in doing.

What followed was a fun series of Sunday afternoon shoots as I documented her baking a variety of cakes. Her galley kitchen was just about large enough for one person to stand comfortably, so I ended up lighting most of the kitchen with some lights I set up outside pointing in, while constantly moving to stay out of her way as she baked. The best part of each shoot was coming home with some samples of the cakes I watched being made that day.



The book came out in October and I was thrilled to get my copy recently that includes my baking photos and some fabulous cake photography from Annabelle Breakey. While I'm biased, I think the book is worth it just for the two forewords, written by Robert Siegel (who did not eat any of Melissa's cakes in an effort to keep to his diet), and the rebuttal foreword, written by Steve Inskeep who begins,

"Robert Siegel is a respected colleague, a perfect companion, a great reporter, and the Walter Cronkite of our time- the man who informs me who's winning on election night. Is that enough flattery for me to get away with calling him a dang fool? How could he not sample the cakes described in this book?"

In any case, my copy already has some chocolate stains on it from my baking The Naughty Senator (Peppermint and Chocolate Rum Marble Cake) which turned out amazingly well, and I have my eye on the Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pattie Cake next.

Michael Carvin and Noel Francisco for BusinessWeek, 11/30/09

I'm in the midst of some hunkering down at the SV Photography offices here in Washington, DC, contemplating a media landscape that is simultaneously shrinking (the paid work) and expanding (the not so paid work), working on a new edit for the web site, and trying to get a few ideas from drawing board to execution stage.

enjoying the last warm days of Fall with Luke

In the meantime, I'm still amazed at the little 11 week old who has brought a lot more meaning and purpose to what I do. And now I'm headed out to burn through some 4x5 Polaroid before it gets too dark.