2025 Mortraits
Experimental filmmaker Gerry Fialka poses for a portrait inside of his very eclectic home in Venice, CA.
I have noticed an on going trend in my photography practice. It basically goes
Get assignments
Make the portraits (hopefully they’re in focus)
Save and submit them
Forget about them for a few years
This year I was trying my best to update my blog and share some of the interesting adventures that photography lead me to in 2025. Overall I think I accomplished about 40% of that goal. That being said that was way better than the previous year. It also gifted me a few surprises while putting together this post (which is always nice).
While looking through my archives I noticed a few things. The first thing was I photograph a lot of people facing to the left. This was funny to me not going to lie. I am not sure if I enjoy people facing to the left, or most of the people I photographed just looked better that way. That is something I am going to be more aware of in 2026. The second thing is noticing some subtle changes in my lighting and directing.
I felt more confident behind the lens this year than ever. It was like I had this super power of making people feel comfortable within minutes. Once we started shooting I was able to notice subtle poses that made them look natural and then I could direct them back into the pose. Sometimes I can be pretty shy, so unlocking this new skill felt pretty good.
The second thing is exploring my lighting set ups. I either used a beauty dish with a grid or a Photek umbrella for most of my shoots this year. This decision was a little out of necessity and sometimes out of convenience. That being said I wanted to challenge myself to learn how far I could push my camera and lighting set up. One of my favorite photographers Sandro Miller shared a story how he would photograph a mannequin for hours. He would move it around, and move the light around to explore how the light hits. I kind of took this into the streets and practiced as I went. I was surprised at the variety I got out of these modifiers. Moving into 2026 I’m excited to add a few more strobes and pocket wizards to the mix.
For 2026 my mantra is going to be slow down. I want to create portraits the viewer can feel. Portraiture is like an onion and you have to peel through the layers. For anyone who reads this thank you so much for taking the time. For my photographers out there, keep shooting and making work. Photography is one of the best inventions of our time and I am grateful for it every day. Happy New Year.
Bunny starred in a 2025 Super Bowl commercial. Her apartment was tight, so we decided to make some images where she does her self tapes for auditions (see below). While I was putting away my gear, I saw her bedroom and asked to photograph her on her bed. She obliged and I think this might be my favorite portrait of 2025.
I photographed Zita and her dog a month after the Eaton Fire destroyed Altadena. This was the first time she had been back to see her house. Surprisingly the orange tree her father planted in the backyard survived.
Elise is a breast cancer surviver and an amazing human. I photographed her in 2024 but under a more stressful situation. This time it was all love. She asked if she could take her shirt off and I just said let’s do it!
This was the second time photographing pianist Wayne Bethanis. Wayne loves creating and this might’ve been the most fun I had on an assignment. Also his view is killer.
I honestly forgot this guys name, but he directs plays. I photographed him in about 10 minutes before rehearsal. He was pretty cool.
This is my good friend Steve O. He runs a brand in LA called Peepgame. We made this image for an article and it was honestly just a good morning hang.
Steve is the CEO of an organization in Azusa that helps families get out of domestic violent situations. When I saw this church set up I knew it was the one.
I love this image because I had was a little nervous to ask for it. I forgot her name, but she is part of the Azteca’s in Los Angeles. They were having a Spring festival and I just loved her energy.
Gwenn is an author who I had the pleasure of photographing. She had an amazing art collection and we had a fantastic conversation about the history of Venice, CA.
Linda Chen is the founder of Creepy Gals. I have been wanting to photograph her for a few years, and we made it happen before the opening of her Valentine’s Day show.
Katherine Flynn is an artist based out of Venice, CA. She’s a photographer so it was a pleasure chatting about the differences in our processes. She also had an amazing studio.
Robert Vargas has been on my list to photograph for about 3 years. We finally made it happen this year when he finished a mural in Hollywood.
Carla is an author and podcaster based in Ventura County. This was the first shoot I did after healing from a broken elbow. I was nervous and thought I wasn’t going to be able to make anything, but we prevailed. Afterwards she gifted me a $500 bottle of wine, which I thought was pretty nice.
Brian Knight is an architect. I honestly just loved how his dog posed for the camera.
Paul Kaufman owns a store in DTLA and is a modern day cobbler. I think I was stressed out before I got to his location, but after seeing the space and chatting about art everything came together.
Skip and Lena play in a band together. We drank coffee, talked about punk music before making these photographs. Afterward they took me to lunch and in the words of Ice Cube “It was a good day”.