In one of my screenwriting classes, we looked at the set up in The Usual Suspects. Do you remember it? The mealy mouthed cripple, Verbal Kint, in the detective’s office, says of Keyser Soze, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

That line haunts you the rest of the film. That is a great set up. And the genius of the line is it takes a complicated theme and puts it into incredibly simple terms.

This same idea can be used, to great effect, in photography as well.

This is a subject I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately and I’m not sure where I first encountered it in practice (the only place I can think to point to is Dan Winters, who does it infinitely better than anyone), but simplicity – simple light, simple composition, simple posture – is the best way I’ve found to expose for honest emotion.

I recently did portraits for Need Him, a non-profit whose mission is to give people a chance to hear the story of God’s love for mankind as it was personified in Jesus. They wanted their story to be told with authenticity, so early on, the decision was made to cast ordinary people instead of models.

However, people are a complicated tangle of story lines and emotions and most put up high walls that hide the honest, authentic emotion from strangers. Putting a camera in their face or being placed under a bunch of lights while being told what to do only adds to their discomfort.

So, as excited as I was about the opportunity to explore some of the complexity that real people bring with them, I knew that in order to create an environment where that could happen, I would need a simple set up.

I used a single head, camera left, as my key & outfitted it with a 1×4 strip box placed just in front of the subject & the spill from that strobe gave me just enough exposure on the background. For a bit of fill, I placed my 5-in-1 reflector, the translucent white part, on a light stand opposite the key. Occasionally I threw in a stool or a posing table for my subject to interact with. Each person ended up needing a subtle tweak to the positions of the key & reflector, but the simplicity of the set up helped me take down the walls and created a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere for exploring a range of emotion.

Going back to The Usual Suspects, you don’t fully understand the power of Verbal’s line from the first of the film until he reprises it at the end, in voice over, as the detective scrambles out to the street, having put all the details together and we see the cripple lose his limp and transform into Keyzer Soze – the Devil himself. It’s one of the most rewarding film endings I can think of and not because you are aware of the story telling technique being used. It’s rewarding because of what you’re seeing happen on the screen.

Just like in the movies, a simple photography set up isn’t effective because it’s simple; it’s effective because the resulting photographs make the viewer feel what you want them to feel – in this case, to feel a connection with the universal human longings for purpose, meaning, hope and joy.

On a related note, Need Him has been running a really great television spot that touches on these themes & they also launched their new website. If you have a minute, check them out.

-Exodus 31:1-5

tomorrow marks one year of my involvement with I Am Second and the first person i shot for the campaign was Jason Castro. i remember being pretty nervous.

i had pitched the idea of shooting production stills to use as additional content on iamsecond.com, but the folks at E3 knew they would need studio portraits for the print & outdoor efforts, so they asked me to try my hand at those as well. at the time, studio photography wasn’t something that i had a ton of experience with – which was the root cause of 97% of my nervousness.

here’s that first image:

so much about the campaign was still in a process of discovery when we shot Jason & as much as we liked this image, it was a unanimous belief that it wasn’t the right feel for the campaign. so, twenty days later, i did a full day test which led us to the current high contrast look that has become a staple of all the I Am Second photography.

i’m actually floored that it has only been one year since I Am Second started for me. i’ve grown so much, personally and professionally, since i came on board with I Am Second, that it feels like a lot more time has passed since it all began. looking forward, i’m incredibly excited about all the stories still to be told.

i destinctly remember almost every detail from the day. it felt like trial by fire, but looking back, i realize that there was a heavy dose of divine grace given to me. just as God gave the plans for the tabernacle to Moses on Mt. Ararat & then prepared Bezalel & Oholiab, he worked in the heart of Norm, provided the direction with E3, and gifted craftsmen like Sam, Scott & me -  it’s incredibly humbling to realize that not only are you part of the plans, you were called by name and given grace for just such an occassion.

the best thing about shooting Jason is that it lead us, creatively, to refine our thinking about how photography could, and should, be used. and, for my part, the effort has lead to results i’m incredibly proud of.

a print ad that ran on the back cover of D Magazine’s April 2009 issue.

- Denver Moore

Denver & Ron

for the last 53 weeks, same kind of different as me has been on the NYT bestseller list (holding down the 12 spot at this writing). earlier today, i had the great privilege of making portraits of the book’s authors – Ron Hall & Denver Moore. their story is worth reading and i hope it changes the way you see (and live in) the world around you.

- Paolo Pellegrin

I came across a truly brilliant portfolio of images that Paolo Pellegrin did for the New York Times. And when I say truly brilliant, I am not speaking in my typical tone of hyperbole.

The images not only represent access – both physical access, into the homes and lives of these people, and emotional access, revealing the unfinished bits in the private worlds of public people – but the presentation that the NYT has used is outstanding – the images are big and nothing about the site distracts from the image. I particularly liked the insight that Lynn Hirschberg adds in the commentaries.

And then there’s the edit; this is the part of photography that really sets the great stuff apart from the rest. I have to think that for each of the 8 subjects there are dozens of breathtaking images and yet, they’ve found a way to pare down each story to its essence, leaving you completely satisfied with what you’ve experienced.

There are a few of my favorites after the jump.

Mickey Rourke by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times

Frank Langella by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times

Robert Downey Jr. by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times

Sean Penn by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times

i fancy myself a portrait photographer first and foremost. it’s a remarkably difficult thing to make a portrait. i confess to failing to achieve what i set out to do on most occasions. when you’re working with adults, it’s quite difficult to get them to put down their guard and reveal something about themselves in an honest way. they’re always trying to dress it up for you. it’s not that way with kids. they don’t know they’re supposed to hide anything, to suck in or puff up.

more often than not, kids just are who they are.

meet oakley.

i first photographed oakley when he was only 6 weeks old (left) and again, a couple weeks ago (right). i love the honesty in his eyes in both these images. i love the way he seems to be waiting for an answer to a question he can’t quite ask yet.

oakley just celebrated his first birthday last month, and i had the distinct privilege of being there to capture him on the big day. doesn’t matter the emotion – they were always unreserved and honest.

enjoy.