When making a portrait I am not attempting a searing exposé; I wouldn’t presume to know my subjects in the limited time that we have (typically an hour or two). Instead, I try to float them onto the page with a kind of controlled spontaneity. Given the prominence of many of my subjects, sittings can sometimes become ‘productions’ with hair, make up, styling, and a photographer on hand to record everything. More often, they are intimate occasions involving just me and the sitter, underlying my theory that a portrait is essentially a love affair - however brief - and only the person on the other side of the drawing board will do. Read More