This journal consists largely of my fine art, but I don’t restrict my work to pictorials. Classical art is often composed of commissioned portraits, and the pieces are no less because of it. So when I make a portrait, I make it for my client’s needs, but creatively, I want something stunning enough that it could hang in museum ten decades from now.

We planned the Chamberlain portrait for weeks. I was determined to avoid the stereotypical toy solder line of people that is so common, especially in very large groups. We planned this to be a wall piece, and we succeeded. It now hangs as a handcrafted, seventy-inch canvas in the client’s living room, and, I confess, I’m very proud of it, though it’s not done justice on this tiny screen. I wish you could come to the studio and look at the one on my wall.

This image set a new standard for me in proving to myself that a group portrait need not be a stereotypical clustering of people with grim faces and awkward poses. It also won best photo at the Winter Fest art competition, which was really cool. I’m thankful that I was able to capture this family in way that shows three generations, tells a story, and hangs beautifully on the wall. In planning this, I opened up a world of new ideas for the way I conceptualize commissioned pieces.

For photographers. How it was made…