Last week I did a test shoot with Andrea, a SF local, and Crystal, who was visiting from Hong Kong, where she writes for Harper’s Bazaar. This is one of the looks.

When I arrived at Sasha’s to take pictures of him and Nastya, the first thing that caught my eye was an awesomely nostalgic hot-water-radiator they had in their apartment. Heating like this was ubiquitous in the Soviet Union and there was no stopping the chain of associations that led me to this picture.

Marina and I showed up to this photo-shoot late, just as Eugene Berman was finishing up. He had a two-light setup going with a black background in a small living room. As I was unpacking my stuff I noticed the absolutely beautiful soft light coming in from the window through a translucent white drapery and never wound up firing a single flash.

This image has a funny back-story to it. It was taken during a trip to the wine country, Healdsburg, CA, to be exact. I was staying in a boutique hotel and decided up front that I will be taking a lot of pictures while there. In preparation, I’ve spent hours scouring strobist, packed all of my lighting gear, home-made beauty dish and all and, in a feat of brilliance, forgot the bag with all the light-stands (and my tripod) at home.

Luckily, I had a couple of rolls of Delta 3200 with me, which allowed me to shoot my Bronica ETRS hand-held (and wide open) in the evening, with my lighting setup consisting of two bedside lamps and a dinky little reading light that I used for catch. Could this image have been better, had I had my whole arsenal at my disposal? Probably. In any case, I am quite happy with what came out.