To me, it is an awesome responsibility to try and capture the soul of a human being in a photograph. I think the harder you try, the more difficult it is. Good portraits, I think, come from a connection between the subject and the photographer, a comfort level, a trust.

As a rule, I only take photos of people I l like or love. My feelings for them, and theirs for me, reflects itself in the photograph, and photographs don’t lie. The warmth and affection of people always comes through. Sometimes, the best portraits are close-up that zero in on a face, sometimes a scene that reflects what they are about – for Connie, I thought there had to be books.

Connie and I are good friends, we know one another quite well, we have been through talks, book tours, scores of signing sessions in the store. Connie is warm and honest, but also guarded.  She is central to the sense of community that  exists in my town.

She is very friendly, but also keeps a space around her, a boundary. She protects her personal and family life, she runs her bookstore well, she does not disappear into it.

We don’t have piercing heart-to-hearts, but we know and trust and like one another.  She rarely lets her emotions show. She is available and discreet. I have great respect for what she has done, building a first-rate book store in a challenging time in a tiny upstate New York town struggling to keep community alive. She has sold a lot of my books. (I will sign and personalize any book you order from  Connie, and many people from all over the country order all their books from her: 518-677-2515, or [email protected].)

For this portrait I asked her to sit in front of a wall of books, I wanted books to be all around her, that is what she is about. As we were talking, a customer walked in the store and Connie – who prides herself on customer service – turned to greet her. No photograph would ever be more important than a customer. I think I caught that moment, and that moment caught Connie.