People Favorites

On the hike between Lao Chai to Ta Van villages near Sappa I saw a farmer building a bamboo fence. He had a wonderful face and the composition had potential, with a dark foreground, light background to contrast with the farmer. I took several shots, and this one caught the right moment for his body and hand positions and the arc of the bamboo.

Dia de Los Muertos San Francisco 2016

On our way to the Duchala pass, we stopped at a small temple. Behind the temple I saw this young girl, daughter of the caretaker. She was being very coy, but still wanted her picture taken. The sidelight on her face and her position were perfect. One of my favorite people pictures from Bhutan.

We spent some time with two families of goat herders near Tso Moriri. We were invited into their tent and the girl was holding her sister. This was a very difficult shot to get as I was wedged in a corner with not much ability to move and there wasn't much light. I later learned that in the winter after this shot was taken, the baby died.

The interior of the temples in Egypt are quite dark, but there are holes in the roof to let in light. This guard was standing in one of these shafts of light. I took several shots, with and without flash to avoid the burned out highlights of his head wrap, but in the end, the first shot was the best.

It was difficult shooting people in Morocco. Most people refused. In this situation, I usually find a busy spot and set myself off to the side, as inconspicious as possible. This was shot at the market. I sat at a small restaurant off to the side with the 70-200 at 200 with a 1.4 telextender so I was effectively shooting at 450mm. I had to use follow focus, so the subjects face pretty much had to be in the center. I then cropped the image.

Evening at the Marrakech bazaar and I was sneaking long telephoto shots of passers by, and noticed this hawker at a booth a bit down from where I was sitting. He had this lovely, pensive, accepting look at the end of a long hard day.

Dia de Los Muertos San Francisco 2016

We were walking through the backstreets of Tinerhir, Morocco, when we came across a group of kids playing in a courtyard. I offered them some change to pose. I stood them a few feet from the wall to keep it out of focus. This girl's intensity and clothes were perfect. This is one of my favorite photos.

Everywhere around the temple complexes there are lots of children, almost all looking to sell something. This girl was selling bracelets near the entrance to Ta Som. She has an beautiful face and was an amazingly good subject. I took five pictures. In each she had a different expression and they were all as good as this one. I positioned her just under an overhanging set of branches and took a position so that when she looked at me, which she did fearlessly, the light would be coming across her face from her right. I shot at f4.5 at 105mm to blur the background.

During a rainstorm, I spent about an hour in one gallery near the entrance of Angkor Wat. There is a big Buddha and several statues along one wall behind it. I was photographing the statues when I noticed the nun leaning against a post. I took about ten shots of her in various positions. This is my favorite. I had to knock down some glare on her face and clone out the out of focus corner of a bench above her head.

In the same wonderfully lit room at the Sappa market that I took some of the other shots, this woman was very cooperative. What a wonderful face, and again, the light is fantastic.

This man had a wonderful face. I had to pay him to pose, something that I have finally gotten used to. He was not a happy camper, but the light and his expression make a wonderful portrait.