I love taking portraits, and I’ve often fantasized about setting up a portrait studio in our barn. It wouldn’t work. I don’t charge any money for doing portraits, and so far, I like almost everyone I’ve done.

The portraits of the Mansion residents are among my favorites; they are always honest and open.

I only take photos of people I like, and the very best portraits are of people who love one another. It always shows up in the picture. All I have to do is get them to relax.

Having a Leica 2 doesn’t hurt either.

I often tell people whose portrait I’m taking to “look at my bald spot,” and they almost always laugh.

This photo above of Charlie and Kitty will be a Christmas card, and Kitty wrote to say she was puzzled that I took a photo of her that she liked; usually, she tightens up.

She and her husband, Charlie, have been married for nearly 40 years. Their love for one another made the picture; all I had to do was fiddle with the lighting and hit the shutter.

But the portrait is special to me.

I like the idea of only taking portraits of people I like. Somehow, it gets across and into the photograph.