Author Portraits for Michael Schiavone

Michael Schiavone, a highly acclaimed young fiction writer, recently sold his novel Call Me When You Land to Permanent Press— it will be out in 2011.  Naturally he needed a formal author portrait for his press materials, book promotion, website, and perhaps somewhere on the back of the book… I was thrilled to help him with this important project and we had a nice early morning shoot. Though it is February in NYC I was able to convince Mike to take off a layer and brave the cold ford the sake of the images. We started in the studio but my favorites are the ones we did outside… I seriously can’t get enough of the neighborhood around my studio, it’s so perfect for portraiture like this. Here are my top picks… I might have trouble choosing! Which would you use?

The above shot is both one of mine and one of Mike’s favorites so that may be it…

Sometimes a simple headshot is all they want though– and you can’t argue with the catchlights in his eyes here…I’m really pleased with the. shadows I created on his face too–I find a hint of rembrandt lighting really works well for many male portraits.

I kind of love that there’s a van in the background…

This brick wall in the alley behind my studio building never fails to produce a pleasing background.

I was really into getting these vertical and horizontal lines from the fire escape stairs…  love how they look!

Not having had the chance to read Mike’s book yet I wasn’t sure whether a warmer/smiling shot like above or a more intense/serious artistic portrait like below would be appropriate for the mood… so we did a bit of both.

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