I believe that the content and the story of a photograph is more important than the equipment that was used to make it. Anyone can buy high-end equipment and learn how to use it. But I'm only impressed by people who can make a photograph that says something. But when I see a great photograph, sometimes I want to know the equipment and technique behind it. Not because it impresses me, but because I want to learn how to do it myself. Fair enough. That's why I'm including this page. If you're an equipment snob, don't bother reading past here. My lighting and posing "studio" is adapted from the setup used by Richard Avedon in his In The American West series. I shoot outdoors in open shade. I choose a location where the subject is facing a wall that can bounce some of the sunlight towards their face. I use a white project screen as a backdrop. I shoot with a Canon digital SLR. My prefered lens for portraits is the Canon 50mm f/1.4. This setup is easy to put together. The portraiture is the difficult part. If you would like to learn portrait photography, I strongly encourage you start with this setup. For more examples of what you can do with this setup, see the work of Richard Avedon, Clay Enos and Lynn Blodgett on my Links page.