Behind the Scenes and Image Making Process

One of the most frequently asked questions regarding my image making process is how I find my locations and how posed or staged an image is. Despite the site-specific subject matter, the geography of the Hudson River is quite expansive, so I've divided the river valley into lower-mid-upper regions. I'll typically find specific points of interest - parks, viewpoints, trailheads - on Google Maps, and assemble a list of 3-5 potential locations before making a scouting trip. On the trip, I'll evaluate the feasibility of constructing a scene and observe the lighting.

On the actual shoot day, I'll have 1-2 specific gestures in mind for each frame and let the action unfold naturally in the rest of the image. It's a fairly collaborative process, as I like to inform my subjects of the narrative structure and welcome their feedback and suggestions. I've been fortunate to develop a close group of collaborators - people I've cast in the Hudson, friends of friends, etc. - and hope to further expand the participants and scope of the project.

Image credits: Benji Hsu