Yes, it's true. I shoot my lamb chops on the floor.

Several years ago I was commissioned to write an article for Tribeza Magazine about four different Mexican restaurants in Austin with four vastly different approaches to that cuisine. The grande dame of both fine Mexican dining and just flat out "fine dining" is without a doubt Fonda San Miguel.  A superb restaurant with a world class art collection on display, a dining room that is world class art, and food that crosses over genres effortlessly.

While the other restaurants presented me with their variations of enchiladas and chile relleños the chef at Fonda San Miguel led with this plato of wonderful, delicate, moist lamb chops accompanied by a side of savory scalloped sweet potatoes. We were working in a sun drenched atrium and the floor was a perfect color complement to the food.

I like setting up lights and making a spectacle when I'm shooting.....sometimes. But there's also a time to just calm down, use what is at hand and let the subject do the talking.

Nikon D2X. 16-85mm.

Once on this Island. A studio shot.

Shot with a Hasselblad camera and a 150mm Zeiss Planar lens. Film: Agfapan 100 apx. Printed and then scanned from the print.

The thing I liked most about the images I made of this show, besides the beautiful and energy filled faces, is the way the curtains on the left and the background behind the actor on the right are rendered. I used a giant softbox with extra diffusion very close in to the actors and kept the power on that flash head as low as possible. I was shooting at f5.6 or around there. I lit the curtain with a small softbox and put the curtain far enough back so that it was lit separately from the actors. There's a third set of lights on the far background, modified by grid spots.

In my mind, at the time I was shooting this, the construction of the out of focus background elements was as important as the lighting on the main subjects.