Portraiture is about setting a mood.

For individual portraits that usually means showing my clients in the friendliest manner. A viewer should feel like they know something about the person just from looking at the image.

When my client is an actor or actress, the goal changes slightly. We might be trying to sell a particular character look in order to show their diversity.

For musicians, I want to tie the image to the feel of their music.

That was the case for these images of Delta Moon. The recordings they played for me were dark and melancholy so I photographed them in a manner that had that feel.

The first image is from a fashion shoot for “Black & White.” The client wanted to sell "attitude" and I include it here because it is more portrait than product. The shoot took place in a nightclub on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta.

Image number 2 is of a stage actress.

Having seen quite a bit of Lori Gene’s charcoal and pastel drawings, when she needed a promotional image, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Her current body of work is primarily of symphonic musicians so I set up a white background and left her to prepare this over-sized sketch. Using it in the background with Lori Gene in a tux gives the impression of a conductor about to perform.

For this wedding portrait, I wanted a dream-like quality. To get this effect I used infrared film, processed normally, then followed up by an acid bath (don't try this at home) to produce an image with few details, but a sense of dreamy optimism.

The League of Decency, a blues band well known in the Southeast, needed a new promo photograph for their press package.

Having seen them perform, I knew the lead singer was very animated on stage so I chose to play that up in this image.

We’d originally discussed color images, but when I gave them this b&w option it turned into their first choice.

Here are some examples of the straightforward business portrait.

In cases where an image is used relatively small in size, I frame my portraits closer to the subject’s face, and choose backgrounds that don't draw your attention away from the model.

The focus in this style of portrait is on expressing strength, confidence, trust, and/or friendliness, depending on how the images will be used.