More about the photo above. My introduction to Dawoud Bey was from USA’s Character Project last year. I was captivated by his ability to shoot street portraiture with a large format camera. Watching him work and put his subjects at ease during a process that takes much longer than a standard digital capture, fascinated me. There’s conversation, fellowship, an exchange of energy in the picture making process. Watching a video clip of him work (here) really made me think about how I approach potential subjects and the care with which I try to make images, especially portraits. Since then, I’ve grown to appreciate his body of work, particularly the Harlem, USA images, which he was making around the time I was born.

With all that said, I felt very strongly that I wanted to make his portrait. I waited for an opportunity in between panel discussions and approached him. He was incredibly generous with his time and about as laid back as I’d hoped he’d be. We moved from the lobby to the wall leading into the auditorium at the Nasher and I shot six frames. As I thanked him, we shook hands and he commented on my tattoo. He thought it was cool. He had no idea how cool it was for me to make his portrait.

In addition to the great conversation and exhibit, I bumped in to my good friend Darrell Stover of the North Carolina Humanities Council. It had been a while since we talked, so he brought me up to speed with some of his projects. I asked him if it was OK to snap a few frames as we talked and he agreed. Darrell’s a great guy, an incredible poet, musician, and an all-around cool cat. (Darrell Stover pictured below.)

I recently read online that Chad Stevens had taken a faculty position at UNC-Chapel Hill. My introduction to Chad’s work was through Media Storm a few years ago and I had the good fortune of meeting him at the 2007 Mountain Workshops in Danville, Kentucky. I’m really excited about his upcoming film, The Coal War. It was great to see Chad again and welcome him to North Carolina. (Chad Stevens pictured below.)