Explorations: The Figure

Trying Something New

When my studio first opened in the early 90s, I worked hard to establish my reputation as a tabletop still life photographer. Although things started building nicely with the still life work, I realized all my photography heroes at the time: Penn, Stieglitz, Gowin, DeCarava, did a wide array of work with people and I felt something important was missing.

After several years, this avoidance began weighing more heavily and my job was in danger of becoming limited. Getting recognition for a particular look is a double-edged sword, if you’re not careful, you’ll end up being hemmed in by the very reputation you worked so hard to attain. I decided to enlist someone to help me break out of the rut. One day she simply asked me if there was anything I had always wanted to photograph but hadn’t yet, my answer, out of left field, was nudes. She encouraged me to give it a try.

It all started here below, with a lovely model named Mila. This was the first response to my new mandate. (Thank you Elizabeth Press for helping me find that emerald green sofa. 👌🏻)

Mila was great, much more at ease than I was, and it helped me get past my initial anxiety. Inanimate objects are one thing, this was quite another.

Soon a new project, developed during a brainstorming session with stylist Michele Faro, needed a home outside of my established client base. As luck would have it, I was in Paris photographing some jewelry with an art director who also happened to be relaunching Lui Magazine. I realized this would be the perfect place for my new explorations. That was in 2014, and we’ve been working together ever since.

These pictures were a huge departure for me. The first Lui story led to a few more…

Then, about six months later, another art director for one of my bigger jewelry clients saw the commercial potential in this new editorial work:

Momentum continued building and I was asked to come in for a big meeting with a very conservative jewelry client that, safe to say, had absolutely ZERO interest in anything risqué, but responded well to the images and I landed a nice campaign:

All of these collaborations have led to a whole new facet of my career, shooting jewelry on figure, both still and motion, and while the path has been far from straight, I’ve ultimately been able to expand my repertoire and love doing it.

I’m sharing this throughline to illustrate a couple of things. First of all, you might as well pursue what you love, even if it seems inappropriate, or a dead end, or is way out of your comfort zone. There’s so much valuable energy in where your passions lie, it’s always worth exploring.

It also opens the door to new collaborations. With the help of talented stylists, art directors and a handful of open-minded clients, some of your seemingly outlandish ideas can become manifest. With time, persistence, enthusiasm and patience, what at first seemed only a whim, can turn into something incredibly satisfying and rewarding.

So, what do you really want to shoot?