I’m always looking for the good light. Sometimes it’s free, sometimes I bring it with me. You got to have the good light for the great portrait. Finding the good light is like ordering your hashbrowns at Waffle House: you want your light scattered, smothered, capped, or whatever. But you always want to have the light doing something. When I go out on a job at night, like the time I got to hang out with Big Freedia for Sonic Magazine (Sweden), I always bring with me a few speed lights (capped), diffusers (smothered, covered) and some gels (diced?) since my free light will be green, amber, or white. Who knows? My favorite light for portraits, though, is the free light, especially when you can find it scattered through cloud cover. As I was walking the grounds of the BUKU Music + Arts Festival this year with one of the staff, I happened upon local art and music icons Gabe Flores and John Curry. They were standing in front of their respective graffiti walls as the light scattered across their faces. Uncapping my lens, I smothered them with praise and topped my hat as I made sure my focus was all the way, and made this picture.
