Back in August we were in Alamogordo shooting a campaign for the 2008 White Sands International Film Festival. On the first day of shooting we were invited to do a portrait of Michael Hurd, a noted artist form a long line of noted artists.

As he walked us around the family property looking for a setting to shoot our portrait he (obviously saving the best for last) finally led us into his studio, which was his fathers studio before.

We of course had tons of equipment with us; needing to be prepared for anything. Well, we walked into this studio and the light was gorgeous. I have been in other artists studios before and the good ones always have amazing light. So there we were with very few decisions to be made. Michael clearly felt at home in this space, it was after all his environment, so we had to photograph him there. And despite our ability to light the hell out of almost any scene, the soft filtered directional light coming through the large windows was really the only choice. Sometimes the the key is to know when NOT to mess with a good thing! The only other variable was whether his rambunctious young Doberman Nemo, would cooperate long enough to be included in the shot. It took some coaxing but that too, came together. It turned out to be a very fun shoot with Nemo bouncing off the walls and wanting to lick the camera and Michael just shaking his head and the boundless energy of his young compatriot.

Well this week we finally got a chance to sift through some of the images and make selects of our own. With very little post production we settled on this one.

So we would like to thank Michael & Nemo for their hospitality and generosity and hope that our paths cross again soon!