Portrait of Robert

Robert grew up in New York City, New York, USA in the boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. He never lived in Staten Island nor in the Bronx. However, he did have a very fascinating Bonfire of the Vanities moment in the South Bronx. I will not get into it.

That said, Robert had very interesting stories. For example, one time, he met with a few good friends for lunch and one of his friends complained of pain in his mouth. Robert grabbed his friend’s mouth and looked inside. The friend was astounded. When asked what he was doing, Robert calmly told him, “This is what I do everyday. It’s my job.”

At the time of this posting, Robert lived and practiced dentistry in Los Angeles County, California. Robert was a great dentist, in more ways than one. First of all, his technique was impeccable. Secondly, he ran a very large office and managed all his employees in the most outstanding way. He hired excellent dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, and various office personnel who worked very well together at Valleywide Dental.

Robert also had good business and good marketing sense. He had various promotional offers for perspective patients and participated during community events in the Antelope Valley by renting booths space. He attracted new clientele on a regular basis such that his chairs were fall during office hours.

Robert’s patients liked and respected him very much. Robert was an amazing person as a dentist, as a businessman and a friend. One of the best and most unique characteristics of Robert, was that he would telephone his patients after they had a more difficult procedure, such as a root canal, to ask how they were doing. This late evening call was reassuring.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Peggy

Peggy was a groomer at PetSmart for a year-and-a-half, but was was a professional groomer for over 20 years prior to this portrait. Peggy was originally from San Fernando Valley and went to Cleveland High School. She studied grooming in the Valley from an individual who had been a groomer for over 30 years. She believed that was the best way to learn. Peggy at the time of this posting, lived in Palmdale, California, USA. She had two children and two grandchildren. She only had one dog, a Yorkshire Terrier.

Peggy hoped to get more dogs, and was affiliated  with Halfway Home Dog Rescue, who came to adopted out dogs on the weekends to PetSmart in Palmdale, CA.

What I like about this picture is the shape of Peggy’s body as one arm is up with elbow bent and the other down with elbow bent. I also like the Schnauzer in the back photobombing the pic.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Barry

Barry was a dental hygienist since the year 2000 and worked at Valleywide Dental in Palmdale, California, USA. He grew up in West Los Angeles, and for his degree in dental hygiene, he participated in studies at Santa Monica College but graduated from West Los Angeles College. He maintained that West LA was a great program, “the best around,” and at one point, it was under discussion to install a four-year specialized-level program on campus.

Barry was wonderful, enjoyed being around people and was very funny. He loved what he did because it directly helped people. Many modern techniques preserved people’s teeth to a degree never possible before so it enthralled him to see people improve their health by participating in their own dental hygiene and then coming in regularly foe a cleaning.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Chris

Chris was a Piitbull lover. His wife had an adult Pitbull, who became his through marriage.  After living with him for just a short time, Chris grew to adore him. Unfortunately, he was 11-12 years old, sick and passed away.

After several years, Chris and his wife were ready for a new “son,” Chunker, who was about 11 weeks old as this post was published. He still had a touch of puppy breath.

I met Chris and Chunker at Pets R Us in Palmdale, California, USA. Chunker needed some more vaccines, as is the way with puppies.

Chris was friendly, cheerful and pleasant. He loved his wife and his dog and despised cancer and leukemia.

Here are pictures of Chris with Chunker and one of Chunker alone. Even though this project was intended to showcase only humans, Chunker was such a cute, sweet puppy, I could not resist posting a dog photo.

Image Credit: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

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The letter “H ” for ‘olly ‘ock

Portrait of Jason-1

I first met Jason at Antelope Valley College in an Improvisation Class. Anyone who has taken a theater class knows that you must do trust exercises. In that particular class, I paired up with Jason. Jason had to lead me around as I had my eyes closed; I could have fallen down steps or walked into something, but as soon as he touched me, I sensed he was totally trustworthy. It was a nice feeling.

Jason is very funny. He enjoys both Improv and Stand-up and is good at either. But as all comedians, he is very cerebral. This portrait is a typical expression you will see him do in improv. He will be in some situation, where he has to be evaluative and critical, and he’ll have this expression, and then, bang, he’ll reverse in a tumult of humor.

For this project, I mostly want to shoot strangers because I get to meet new people. But  I was at Trader Joe’s, in Palmdale, CA, USA, and noticed someone I knew. I immediately had NO DOUBT he would let me photograph him. In fact, I also knew I could be experimental. I shot this on a rare overcast day, when I could not eek out 1 lumen off a reflector, yet still managed to get a shadow in there. I shot this with a Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens, at the 15 mm setting. I tried a few at 8mm, but no matter how close I got, I looked way too far away. So there you go, a portrait with an extreme wide angle lens.

You can find Jason on twitter on @ThreeIsComedy and @WTFisSuccess and on Facebook on Jason Dana Galbraith.

Image Credit: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2016 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.