I met Steve back in 1997 when we were both working at a high tech speech recognition company here in Boston – he was an engineering manager and I was in business development. We worked together on some initiatives and we’ve been good friends ever since.

When I was starting my photography business, I needed “guinea pigs” – aka, subjects to shoot so as many photogs do, you ask friends and family so I reached out to Steve and he became one of my first subjects. I was an infant, barely knew what I was doing, but we got some decent images.

Fast forward to today, Steve is now a board member and volunteer for several energy saving/efficiency non-profits and needed some new shots for websites, speaking engagements, etc.. First I created a mood board of potential looks/ideas to see what he might like, which would serve as a starting point for our shoot. We reviewed the shots and he provided feedback on what he liked/didn’t like, and we started from there during our session.

In addition to being a good person, Steve’s a “sharp cookie” with a PhD. from MIT, and many years of engineering/engineering management and business development at several high tech companies, mostly in highly technical products. When we get together for our regular lunch, we rarely talk “shop” though – mostly about our lives, families, politics (and politics, and politics), his biking adventures, and camera gear/photography (I finally convinced/shamed him into buying a good camera for his bird photography). So when it came to the right look for his images, I already had a sense of the expression/look that would convey who I know him to be. The final image shown here has a slight color grade added, to enhance the overall tone/feel, and color scheme.

It's always interesting when I’m shooting a friend/family – they know me and I know them, but I feel an extra amount of self induced pressure to get the best shots of them – yet at the same time there’s a level of comfort and latitude based on our relationship. At the end of our session Steve commented that my process/approach had grown significantly since we first did his headshot, which a smile on my face – I wrote about how I’ve grown in my approach in my last post on LinkedIn, but it was encouraging to hear his feedback nonetheless.

There’s 3 different versions here – stylized B&W (not just a filter), original (middle), and one with a slight color grade/tint to create a bit more of a mood and amplify/tie in the greens/browns of the photo – which do you prefer?

Maybe I’m too close to Steve, but I think his headshot shows all of who Steve is – passionate, competent, sharp, caring, and engaging – in Yiddish, a “mensch”.