Congratulations to the wineries featured in the latest issue – love photographing these stories, hard to believe it’s now been a decade photographing the great Pacific Northwest wineries for Wine Spectator magazine.
Opening spread, Rick & Darcey Small of Woodward Canyon Winery
Chris Figgins of Figgins Family Wines & Leonetti Cellars
Quilceda Creek, Columbia Crest, and Trey Busch / Jerry Solomon of Sleight of Hand Cellars
Marty Clubb, L’Ecole No. 41 winery
Every dawn and dusk thousands of pilgrims travel to the Ganges and perform the Ganga Aarti ceremony; making a wish, lighting a candle, and setting it afloat on the river. One of my wishes – to align my life and photography in a more balanced way. How? A surprising example may be this story of the photo I didn’t take.
Hindu girl selling small candles inside a cup of leaves and flowers.
The Sadhu was striking in appearance – white long hair, golden robe, radient weathered face and sinuous body. Something about the way he walked, held his head, and his calm eyes was different than the other Sadhus I’d encountered, too many eager to ask for a donation to pose for a photo. And it was obvious that I was in search of photographs, walking the ghats with two cameras around my shoulders, my eyes scanning the scene for images. As our paths converged in a relatively quiet area, where perfect morning light softly lit the colorful, graphic stairs of the ghat, we glanced at each other as we passed. I think we both took each other by surprise – that I didn’t raise my camera to take his photo, and that he didn’t stretch his hand out for a donation. I turned around to glance at the Sadhu one more time, and he turned simultaneously. He paused, the slightest gesture of his head communicated that he was inquisitive, possibly even open to being photographed and certainly curious that I hadn’t asked or tried to candidly captured the moment.
But I was tired of the superficial transaction I knew taking a quick photo would be, briefly regretting that I couldn’t linger here for days. For awhile I’ve been focusing more on capturing the perfect photo than the experience. Now I was searching for something more. In this circumstance, by not taking a photo I was able to connect – if only for a moment – authentically with him as a person. In the holiest of all places for Hindus, I had to believe there were still some things sacred. I smiled at him, did a slight bow and brought my hands to prayer as a sign of Namaste in greeting , and he graced me with his smile. He was indeed a “real” Sadhu, and this may be the most memorable experiences I had in India.
The bustle in one of the world’s oldest cities, Varanassi, is never ending and can be simultaneously wonderful and overwhelming to the senses. This photo of the cow serenely standing in the middle of the road with traffic buzzing by on both sides exemplifies the spirit of India to me, the ability to maintain calm in chaos, and the importance of finding your own center balance to adapt to the environment yet stay steady.
In 1897 Mark Twain said “Benares (aka Varanasi) is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”
Cow roaming ancient back streets of Varanasi, India
The Untouchables. Politically active Untouchables prefer the term Dalit, which means “oppressed.” They are the Hindu caste in charge of cremating bodies. We walked through their neighborhood on the way to the cremation ghats on the Ganges, I wasn’t sure what to expect but certainly not outward signs of normalcy. Or warmth in their smiles as they greeted us, children playing, goats wandering, same scenes we’d encountered in so many rural villages. But where are the men you may ask? The scene blocks away from this neighborhood was entirely different. And the caste issue runs far deeper than I can do justice in a caption
Camel silhouettes, Thar Desert near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Although we set up this scene for our photo tour, it was still a
challenge to find a clear spot without background distractions, and enough distance to use my 300mm lens on my Nikon d500 (dx sensor making non dx lens focal length 400mm). I love the gesture of the camel leg kicking up the sand and the individual postures of each person & camel. I chose to bracket this scene, allowing for a little bit of detail to show in the camel’s decorative blankets. India’s skies are extremely polluted in comparison to what I’m accustomed to, in this circumstance it worked well to shoot straight into the sun for the orange glow (no filter needed).
One of the world’s largest camel fairs in the world is held in the town of Pushkar, India. Each November at the time of the full moon, historically over 11,000 camels, horses, and cattle are traded over this two week festival. The men were sifting the sand out of the grain to feed their their camels to be traded. We camped on site and witnessed this epic spectacle from dawn to dusk
I’ll never know exactly what this Camel trader at Pushkar festival was thinking, but I have a good idea. I took this photo the day after the USA presidential election results were announced (we were lucky -or not depending on your perspective – to get news via a borrowed cell phone hotspot in the middle of the remote Rajasthan desert). It was a surreal place to hear news that will effect the world, yet for these camel herders the big news was the sudden halt on the most common currency notes – 500 and 1,000 rupees in effort to stop counterfeiting of the current banknotes allegedly used for funding terroism and black money in the market. Though most agree the intent of this ban is good, it has had serious repercussions – especially for many of India’s 260 million farmers have no bank accounts. Although I typically don’t pay money for photos, this time I sympathized with the traders dilemma and am sure the tips he made from foreigners that day outweighed cash earned by camel trading. And the lessons I learned from those in India to be flexible and adaptable in the face of great adversity is priceless.
Portraits can vary greatly in style, content, and emotion depending on the end goals for the use of the photographs. I’ve put together this checklist with descriptions and examples to help identify which style preferences is right for you – environmental, action, beauty, character, attitude, or group.
ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS
Environmental portraits are most commonly used in editorial publications. The content of these photos tell a story – the background, props, or action is inexorably intertwined with the subject. Context is key, and the caption of the photos is usually the first thing read and most remembered. This is the type of portraiture I most enjoy; with my educational background at Northwestern journalism school and over 15 years of working with publications I’ve photographed hundreds of environmental portraits for magazine covers and feature stories. Capturing unique sense of place portraits can also be one of the most challenging styles – creating an engaging story in one photo takes more time and consideration than capturing a portrait with a generic background. However it can be the most valuable for exposure – with editorial space shrinking there may only be space for a single image to tell your story vs a series of photos. And a portrait with a lot of information included is more likely to run large so the reader can view the details, and lead a story if there’s room for type over part of the image.
Kyle MacLachlan with Pursued by Bear winemaker Dan Wampfler for Wine Spectator
Environmental portraits also give insight to a more authentic side of the subjects personality. People tend to be most comfortable in their natural environment, and this energy reflects back to the camera. Effectively using natural and portable studio lights on location, determining the the most flattering angle for the face & body, and finding or creating the most engaging scene are all equally important.
Celebrity portraiture can often be highly stylized in controlled studio settings, however overly retouched photos can be unbelievable and make the subject seem unapproachable. Once the portrait is captured minor retouching is ok, but the strength of the image is captured in the camera. While filters and highly processed retouching effects maybe fine and fun for instagram or personal prints, most non-fashion style publications want the personality of the subject make the strongest impact, not the style of the photographer or retoucher’s effects.
Kyle MacLachlan with his Pursued by Bear wines in Walla Walla for Wine Spectator
Actor Kyle MacLachlan has been beautifully photographed by the most famous portrait photographers and stylists in the world, and can can easily take on any character or personality. So we decided on a more natural approach to differentiate his Pursued by Bear wine label in magazine articles; it was important to show Kyle’s connection to the vineyard and relationship with winemaker Dan Wampfler with a sense of place photo. For his own Pursed by Bear label, we could be a bit more playful and include the product – who wouldn’t want to join Kyle with the second glass of wine?
Drew Bledsoe with Doubleback winemaker Chris Figgins for Wine Spectator Magazine
Former quarterback player Drew Bledsoe stands at 6′ 5″, and renowned winemaker Chris Figgins is a fit but compact 5’8 – so to capture a portrait of them together minimizing this height difference I chose this angle of the vineyard, giving Drew a pole to lean against and Chris a rock to place one leg on – the angle of the clouds further complement the subjects and creates a dynamic background. And sometimes portraits are non traditional, without the subject looking at the camera – this lifestyle scene focuses on emotion and intimacy, and has been widely used in promotional publications for the Washington wine industry.
Drew & Maura Bledsoe at his McQueen vineyard, Walla Walla, WA
Janis Pate with her dog Cooper, Arlyn Vineyard
View from my beachside cabana this week at Magnificent Rock, Nicaragua. Sun, surf, yoga, salsa, repeat. It’s been a week to challenge myself in new adventures – learning to surf over a reef has been one of the most challenging sports I’ve experienced. Successfully pushing past the fear to the exhilaration of riding my first wave to the shore, the magic of watching the sunset over the sea as the full moon rose, & the adrenalin of successfully catching a larger wave were rewards well worth the effort.
View from my bed at the beach cliff hut at Magnificant Rock
Pelicans hunt for fish as the sun sets over the pacific ocean at our private beach in Costa Dulce