I was delighted to be invited by B&H Photo to give a lecture at their New York home. In it I talked through some of the portraits that matter most to me. These include the ones people know best, and a few that hold a quieter place in the archive. The full talk is now on their YouTube channel, and you can watch it here.
It is a strange thing to look back across twenty-odd years of work in front of a room full of photographers. Each portrait carries the memory of its sitting: the light falling a certain way, a sitter’s hesitation before they settled, the moment a face stopped performing and began to reveal. In the lecture I go through how several of those images came together, covering lighting, direction, and the small decisions that separate a likeness from a portrait.
I also spoke about influence. My grounding has always been in the Old Masters: Caravaggio’s tenebrism, Holbein’s clarity, Van Dyck’s poise, Rembrandt’s candour. The talk also turns to contemporary art and how it continues to shape the way I build an image. The tradition gives me the grammar, and the present gives me something new to say with it.
My thanks to the team at B&H for the invitation, to everyone who came along on the day, and to those who stayed afterwards with such good questions. If you’re a photographer interested in this way of working, the lecture sits well alongside B&H’s other portrait talks from Brian Smith, Mike Foley and Mark Mann.
For portrait and headshot commissions in Los Angeles, New York and London, or to ask about my Recreating Caravaggio masterclass, please get in touch at RL@RORYLEWIS.STUDIO.