New-Portrait.com
Background
At that time the Capezio look was models in white face. Most advertising photography was still black & white.
To be honest, a lot of my work was in a studio photographing products or shooting machines in factories. I did not make a name for myself as a fashion photographer. I took whatever work came my way, but I always liked working with people best.
In 1979, I photographed Senator Pell at his home in Newport. While there were many frames on the contact sheet, this one seemed to capture the essence of a man who was intelligent, optimistic, sincere, direct, and thoughtful… exactly the qualities you would want in a senator.
A Washington studio cropped the photo and blacked out the background. The Senator then used this portrait for a number of years in his publications.
At left, independent filmmaker James DeFrancesco shooting from the roof of his VW camper van in 1969. This was not a paid job. We worked on films together. It was great times but there was no income from it.
Generally, when you are selling a product, you want people to look happy. But when I wasn't shooting pictures that had to sell something, I really liked capturing the intensity of an artist.
