DAY 65

PORTRAITS

Artists

DONALD SULTAN, ARTIST

On arriving at Donald Sultan’s studio, I was greeted and immediately impressed by a large piece of art featuring white dice tumbling out of its black background and frame. In its purist form it was graphic and simply stunning to look at and could not be ignored. I decided against making a portrait with Donald next to it, as it was just too simple and easy.

I set about finding another space to shoot in and ended up making images of Donald at work on some pastel flower pieces. He looked up, and I pressed the shutter. We tried this several times, and it looked good...but it wasn’t great. We tried another setup, and I immediately rejected it after looking at the Polaroid, not even shooting a frame of film in camera.

Then I turned around and the dice painting was there again, so we moved a single silver umbrella strobe light, Donald stood in front, and the “too simple” shot turned out to be the best one. Moral: Sometimes you have to trust your initial instincts as a photographer. —SA