The very beginning

So, without further ado. From the very start of my interest in photography (around 1998 or so), I primarily photographed people. Of course, there were landscapes, architecture, various abstractions, and still lifes, but those were not as interesting to me. Why? Go figure that out now...

I started with myself and my friends, of course. I might share self-portraits later.
But here are the earliest surviving portraits of my favorite model and friend. And this is from 2006. Earlier ones only exist on film.

I first shot for real money in 2005 or 2006. As I remember, it was a girl who needed photos for admission to some acting school. The photoshoot took place in my room with two 500-watt construction halogen lights against a piece of grass-green plush furniture fabric that appeared from who-knows-where. I don't remember how that background even held up in the air that was hot from the lamps... but we took the photos, and it all worked out. That girl, by the way, eventually became a model and actress, and her portrait (though not my work) graced the cover of some thick novel a couple of years later. I was very pleased to have contributed in some way to the professional life of my first paying client. Unfortunately, the photos from that shoot did not survive. But here's another portrait with the same "plush" background, taken with the same light.

Around the same period, I was "working" as a photographer at a local modeling agency. In quotes because I wasn't paid for it. But the experience was valuable.