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So I was looking at a friends web site the other day and I noticed one thing about his images, oh, he is a photographer by the way, he was shooting and showing a vast amount of personal work. So this got me thinking. Actually it got me quite depressed at first, he is a good photographer and the images were nice, but what struck me most was how much personal shooting he was doing. For the last 8-10 years that I have been working, most of the imagery has had some form or another of direction from either a client or an art director, or even from myself. Every shoot had to produce a sale-able image, something that could be quantified through a commercial vehicle. Many of my images have sold through stock companies like Corbis and although I have been lucky enough to have been given a fair amount of freedom in these shoots, I am still bound by the reality of commerce. Now mind you I am not a crying artist, in fact I really enjoy my position as a commercial photographer. But in that envious moment looking at my friends web site I became painfully aware that I have not taken any images for myself. Images that have no commercial end goal, images that are not taken for the pleasure of my subjects. Pure exploration..I am not saying that my ego does not derive pleasure if the subject in question actually likes their portrait, I really do like that. But I did not want to take these images for anyone but myself. Selfish huh? Thats OK.. All artists, yes even commercial artists such as myself need to find refuge in the place where no one tells them what to do, and fucking up is ok, a place to go and stoke the fire.

So I decided to shoot some portraits. No, that would be too easy. I decided to make it harder and shoot a lot of portraits. Then I thought, a lot of pictures in a short amount of time, that should/would do it. So now I have a personal challenge coupled with some newly restored passion. Yikes this could be fun!

60 portraits in sixty days. And no, not some grab a stranger on the street type of portrait, but the type that makes you see someone in a better light, something that shows their personality, give me some damn insight type of portraits.. I was also going to return to my favorite portrait format, the square. After years of shooting in the rectangle, going square felt so comfortable, like that old pair of jeans.

OK enough talking, let’s SHOOT!