Steve Ratner is an awesome guy. We've known each other since drafting class in junior year of high school. That was a fun class with tons of good laughs.
Steve and I ran into each other at Jodee and James' wedding in August of 2011. He was mixing tunes behind the table as the wedding's DJ. We had a quick reunion, congratulating and encouraging one another on our entrepreneurial endeavors. He sent me a message in early 2012 asking if I'd like to photograph a few portraits for him to use as a background on his website. Yes, absolutely.
There was not much of an agenda, other than a simple graphic idea/need: All the information on his website appears in the middle of each respective page, so in order to actually see him in the background image, it would be better to compose the photograph with him on the edge of the image. I believe he still has the images on his site (as of August 2013) if you'd like to check them out, or you can see what I'm talking about in the images below.
We met at a parking garage in downtown Stamford and it was a great location. Wide open. This is by far one of my favorite sets because of that openness. I miss sessions like this: it's one on one, and there is room to improvise.
Steve is a natural. He is many things, but never claims to be a model. But man, he just had "it." Very comfortable in his own skin. It was an honor to work with him:
