As the team was planning the 9th Issue of Bluedoor Magazine we thought it would be good to showcase people in their workplace during challenging season. The Photo Essay was 19 environmental portraits of vital workers. Each portrait was shot on black and white. Only 2 cameras were used for the project. The Hasselblad X Pan (a 35mm panoramic). The other camera was the Mamiya 7 II a beautiful 6x7 medium format. I chose black and white film for two reasons, for one black and white is just better (fact / no its just my opinion), reason two all the photo labs were closed and I don't have the chemistry to process color film. A side note on processing film. I love doing the entire analog process myself. When people hear that I process my own film they ask if I have a darkroom...its a good question but it get confused with making prints in a “dark room.” With processing film you are just developing the negatives through a 3 step process. I use Kodak D76 with a 1:1 ratio and that seems to work good. Most of my film is pushed 1-2 stops, it just gives me a bit more speed especially when shooting in low light. When you push film its making the film faster allowing you to have more options in crappy light. I dig the contrast you get with pushed film, so it's a win / win! Once the film is processed and dried, I scan them into my computer and digitize the negatives to be shared online and in the magazine. Sorry maybe too much detail of my process, back to the photo essay. The challenge with this collection of portraits was scheduling multiple shoots over a 2 week period. The furthest I went was El Centro, yeah I know it sounds far it's in the center of nothing. Over the two week span I was able to meet some incredible people doing hero like work. From the more obvious jobs like the Emergency room Dr's and First Responders, to less obvious jobs of the commercial baker and others that I met along the way were true blessings to meet and connect with! Some of the portraits were not planned but they were on the list, the one that stands out the most was the Corona Beer delivery guy!  I drove around Newport Beach for 2 hours looking for the Corona Truck when I finally saw him he was going towards the Peninsula and I was driving towards the 55 FWY. I did a quick U turn to try and find him and may have ran 2 red lights to catch up with him...Like many of these great people there are funny stories that go with their portraits. Hope you enjoy the portraits, and if you have any questions about any of them drop me a note and I'd be happy to tell you more!