When speaking of Richard Avedon’s work, Poul Erik Tøjner wrote ” He [Avedon] intensified presence by removing what is surrounding it. ” Not that I am comparing my self to the Avedon, but I do believe I am beginning to understand what Poul was on about.

Jacob Elliott (pictured above) and his family (not pictured above) affectionally known as the The Elliott’s, have been friends of mine for close to ten years. As chance would have it, Jacob & I both ended up moving to San Francisco some years ago to peruse our careers as photographers. Since then Jacob has turned into one of the most intuitive and skilled photographers I have ever known, but it was not until he sat in front of my lens that another side of Jacob showed through.

While testing out a new lighting set up, I asked Jacob pose and soon after I discovered that Jacob was one of more photogenic and uninhibited people I had ever met.

After tinkering with the lights, and some adjustments in post, his portrait easily became my favorite from the photo-shoot that took place later that day.

Technical note: As a matter of principle, a ring light was not used in this lighting set-up, nor will one ever be used in my lighting schemes.