Shannon

Shannon from the 2006 photo shoot.

I recently read some articles on nikola tamindzic and his photography. It caught my attention when he started talking about working with models. He said you interact with these people. You ask them to do things, and keep watching. You 'feel around' and find the edge of their comfort zone. And that's where the good photographs are. But that you had a certain responsibility, too. Because if you put your model in such a vulnerable position, you owe it to them to take the picture, and give them back something worth their risk.

I've never been excited about staged photo shoots. I mean, I've done a few. Even have some planned. But they don't usually hold the thrill for me of event photography. Capturing the moment. But using the process nikola describes almost makes the staged shoot into an event.

And while it wasn't intentional at the time — because I was largely clueless and still am — this photo comes pretty close to that.