Linda was working with me in a tutorial session at my home. She told me that she was shy about photographing others and usually made her images from too far away to be effective. I made her photograph me as close as she dared -- and in the process bring out the details that define my appearance and character. I told her not to use a telephoto zoom -- but rather move in and make a deeply personal image at close range. It was hard for her at first, but she gradually found that a close up portrait did not bite. In the process, she makes a image that brings her viewers into intimate contact with me -- closer than they may ever come in life. That is part of photography's lure -- it can take the viewer places they could otherwise never go. She comes so close that she crops off much of my head, bringing the viewer right into the eyes. As a portrait, Linda's image gives us a picture of resolve, patience, and thought. Not to mention being "up close and personal." I don't think she will ever be shy about taking people's pictures again. She shot this picture in color, but found the skin tones so startlingly real that the image made her uncomfortable. When we converted it to black and white, the skin tones vanish, and the image becomes more universal and less real, as much a symbol of the subject, as it is as a description.