As a photographer, my greatest challenge and joy is walking up to a stranger in a strange land, getting them to like me — or at least accept me — in a matter of minutes, and then taking a picture. The key to the success of a picture is that I am fully aware that the kind of feeling I project is the kind of feeling I will get in my picture. It’s like the photo adage: “The Camera Looks Both Ways” — in picturing the subject, we are also picturing a part of ourselves.

In this feature, I’d like to share some of my favorite people pictures. Most of the photographs were taken with my Canon EOS 1D and EOS 1Ds digital SLRs. Since a trip to Cuba three years ago, I’ve shot digital almost exclusively. I find that digital makes my people photography session much more interactive – thanks to the camera’s LCD screen, which lets me immediately show my subjects the results. And when it comes to quality, the images I get out of my EOS 1Ds equal film. Enjoy!