My long-time friend, Nicki, is one of the most cheerful people I know, with a plethora of positive energy radiating from her in the way of smiles and laughs. We decided to get together for some photography when she was in town one winter. Going into this set, I already knew happy, laughing images of her were going to happen. That was easy. That was a given. Therefore my goal became, "how do I capture the opposite with Nicki?" Could she look serious? I wasn’t trying to bum her out; I just wanted to see if a focused, deadpan image of her was possible.

It was…barely.

We spent some snow-filled time at Belltown Park (Stamford, CT) and then headed to a second location, a vacant lot underneath I-95.