I arrived in Dharamsala two days prior to my appointed time to meet with the Dalai Lama and make his portrait. His secretary had selected an area on the front porch of the Dalai Lama's residence to take the photo. I lobbied long and hard to do it on the roof top so the foothills of the Himalayas would be in the background. He had just held an audience with some 300 Tibetan pilgrims and was running about two hours late. The sun was just about to set and the light was going fast when we finally began. I had just enough time to get off 10 shots before the mountain went into shadow.

Production Notes:

I took this photo of Parsho on the first day that I arrived in this small Karo village. I was setting up my equipment to take a photo of an older man when Parsho and Suma walked over to see what we were doing. I showed him the Polaroid I had taken of the man and with sign language asked if he would like one too.. He gave a slight expressionless nod and stood as still as a statue as I took his photo. I decided to use a 50mm on the Hasselblad to get the curve in the Omo river in the background.

This photo was taken with my modified 5x7 view camera. The camera has been fitted with a roll film back with a 6x17cm format. This allows me 4 shots per roll of 120 film. Usually no matter how remote the location, a group of children gather whenever I start to take my equipment out. I try to enlist as many of them in the process as possible to make it a group activity. They love to assist and I really appreciate their help.

Here are some production snap shots from various locations around the world.