Recently, I had the chance to hang out with my buddy Michael Sieben over at his studio Okay Mountain.

As a talented artist, co-owner of Roger Skateboards, and new father, Sieben is a very busy man, but was gracious enough to find time for me to drop by and make this long overdue portrait.

The Okay Mountain gallery was under slight construction, so it was mostly empty and spacious – a perfect place to set up.

Without the luxury of time on my side, I had to think and move fast before his afternoon schedule came roaring in.

Choosing to stay lean and mean, I grabbed a chair and placed it in the middle of the floor, and positioned my lighting.

I quickly metered the set and fine tuned the light, and started shooting. Knowing that I only had a few minutes left, I made a couple of variations with angles and lighting before finally calling it a wrap.

As I was editing through the take back at my desk, I was pleased to see that my quick and simple vision came together well.

The emptiness of the gallery combined with Michael’s plain white t-shirt created just the right setting for an artist … a blank canvas.