Black and white is a wonderful media for making portraits because the lack of color simplifies the image, causing you to focus on the subject’s face of the photograph instead of emphasizing their clothing or surroundings.

Out here in the real world, few of us are perfect, which is why retouching can sometimes be a challenge for aspiring portrait photographers. In fact Cindy Crawford once said, “even I don’t look like Cindy Crawford when I get up in the morning!”

Although I’ve never owned an Oldsmobile automobile, I’ve always been a fan of the marque especially of their 442 models and any of the Hurst Old models.

At the moment I’m getting more and more accustomed to talking to the models while I’m painting, so as to keep the liveliness in their faces.”—Vincent Van Gogh (Letter to Theo van Gogh, Antwerp, Monday, 14 December 1885)