Are there secrets to getting great photographs? Absolutely.

After more than thirty years behind the lens, and working with some of the greatest master photographers, I have learned a few secrets about what is necessary to make photographs that say something about the person in them.

While sitting in the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa I was interviewing one of my best friends, who was being featured as a master photographer for Mamiya cameras. He said, "Two things are essential for great photographs: great subjects and great light." That is the grounding principle of our photographic philosophy .

The word "photography" means "writing with light." If there is a secret to photography, it lies in knowing how to make light tell the unique story of the person in front of the camera. Telling a man or woman's story with a photograph is more about creating the right kind of shadows than it is about blasting the subject with equal amounts of light coming from both sides of the face.

Understanding how to work with light is where a photographer's experience shows. In the last few years digital cameras have gotten so good, and lights so easy to set up that anyone can get properly exposed photographs almost every time. Technical experience has become passé.

Indeed, many photography studios are little more than mills staffed by people who only have to know how to push the shutter release, and how to make sales. The subject is placed on a mark, lights are preset according to a formula that never changes, the person smiles on the count of three, and the employee presses the shutter. The photograph looks just like ten thousand others.

At Studio 102, we don't see every face the same. Each face belongs to a real person whose story is unique. We change the lighting for every person and every situation.

Ruth Bernhard (1905-2006) influenced my photographic style more than anyone else. She wrote, "If you are not passionately devoted to an idea, you can take very pleasant pictures. But, they won't make you cry."

There are two ways to photograph people. One way shows what they look like. The other shows who they are. Regardless of whether we are photographing models, portraits, or brides and grooms, we think it is critical to show who people are.

Getting photographs that show who you are requires knowing another secret: finding the key to cause a subject to respond emotionally in such a way that the photograph rivets the attention of those who look at it. Like a movie director, we search until we find those keys.

The number one request we get at Studio 102 is, "I want my photographs to be different." At Studio 102, we want the same thing you want. We want your photographs to be as unique as you are.