“I have no company, no promotions. I’m a photographer who liked your idea and I never get my photo taken.” -Jessyel

That’s how it usually begins, a blank canvas of sorts, the start of collaboration between myself and client, neither knowing any exact outcome but both excited to create.

Jesse lives in Denver, CO with his wonderful wife and emotional wiener dog. He’s a passionate photographer himself and you can view the progress of his work, his visual journey through life, on the photo blog Daily Snap or follow in on Twitter – @jessyel.

He had the idea, while he shows his face everywhere, to do a portrait piece where he remains anonymous. We began discussing the possibilities of location and appearance. He wanted to incorporate a small smoke cloud, contained and covering only his face. We also toyed with the idea of using a paper bag with a drawn on face or creating a mask from burlap or fabric. To add more intrigue to the photo, I wanted him to dress in something different than everyday casual and suggested a suit or go a little crazy with wild bright colors.

Ultimately we decided to do the shoot at an alley location in Boulder where the brick wall is painted with bright colors and he would wear a business suit. As for the cloud effect, he researched small smoke/chalk bombs but wasn’t able to acquire any before the shoot and brought a cigar to experiment with. We did several shots with him slowly blowing the smoke out as to cover his face.

When I began retouching the photos, the smoke effect wasn’t turning out to my satisfaction. I came up with the idea to implement a mushroom cloud, most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, with the stem of the cloud replacing his neck.

I personally love the theme of anonymity and the results we were able to attain. Having the opportunity to meet people like Jesse and mix our ideas together to create an interesting composition is the largest factor that drives me forward through this project. Everyday is something new with an adept and interesting person to meet.