DAY 25

PORTRAITS

Conceptual

ELI WILNER, MASTER ANTIQUE FRAMER

This was shot on film, without the use of Photoshop, and actually made it to the cover of the magazine that I was shooting for. It’s an example of where a concept for an image turns out better than expected; I had simply wanted to make a portrait of him behind the kind of antique frame that he is world renowned for finding and selling. I had Eli’s collaboration completely; he loved the idea that he was in a frame on the wall. It was shot in his then-tiny frame shop and studio, using a doorway and a roll of blue paper hanging over it with the frame on top of that, and a hole cut out to match the aperture of the frame. Eli stood behind this, creating the illusion that he was a portrait hanging on the wall (note the wire above the frame). What happened next made the shot: He reached out of the frame to adjust his sleeve. This impromptu gesture made him appear to be coming out of the frame and was now actually adjusting it, referring to his pursuit of perfection and immaculate presentation as a master antique framer and dealer. —SA