A few weeks ago, I did a portrait session with Valerie. She is a writer. Her first novel, Hollyhood, will be released in the spring of 2009. She needed an author’s photo to go on the back of the book. The challenge set before me? Valerie said she didn’t think she took good pictures and often didn’t like any of herself. From my experience photographing people and directing photo shoots, I’ve found that most people don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera and if that is the case, it shows in the photographs. It was my goal to make the experience pleasant and to increase Valerie’s level of comfort. Valerie was a great subject. We were both able to meet the challenge together and ended up with some really terrific images.