Behind the Lens: Dan

” I’m here early because I hate doing this – can we please get started now so we can be done?”

– Dan’s favorite headshot client in the past five years

The funny thing about Dan is that if you met him twenty years ago as a kid then photography is probably one of the last things you could have imagined him doing.  A true introvert by nature, he spent his formative years in front of a TV playing video games or in the corner of the quietest room reading books and teaching himself how to program mIRC scripts ( a very early chatroom program for PCs ).  If it involved interacting with others, there was a solid bet he was running in the complete opposite direction.

Dan enrolled in the Maine College of Art in 2002; the perfect destination for a kid who grew up with an innate talent to draw.  The only problem was that he realized really fast that he didn’t want to draw for the rest of his life.  Bouncing from illustration to graphic design and finally to photography, he graduated from MECA in 2006 and subsequently the Hallmark Institute of Photography in 2007 ( where he met his future wife and Lightshed co-owner Kendra ).

Ironically, Dan’s reclusive childhood lends him a certain type of empathy that’s perfect for his biggest role at Lightshed: headshots.  Getting an honest portrait of someone isn’t easy and requires a ton of trust and the  breaking down of mental walls.  Dan’s ability to connect with his subjects and put them at ease delivers a result that isn’t easy to achieve and that he’s perfected over the last ten years.  The biggest compliment he regularly receives is that his headshot sessions were relaxing and “so much more fun” then his clients anticipated.