For All Seasons

Dan Winters  is the 2025 recipient of PPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at Imaging USA in Dallas, Texas. The path to his esteemed status in the pantheon of photography began in photojournalism and photo illustration in Ventura County, California. In 1987, Winters moved to New York City and began photographing for some of the top national magazines and expanded his expertise to celebrity portraiture, street photography, and scientific photography.

Winters’ work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, and Rolling Stone. He’s also created images for such top brands as Apple, Netflix, Nike, Sony, Warner Brothers, and DreamWorks. His award-winning books include “Dan Winters’ America: Icons and Ingenuity” (University of Texas Press), “The Grey Ghost: New York City Photographs” (Rocky Nook) and “Last Launch” (University of Texas Press).

Perseverance has helped Austin, Texas-based Winters navigate the photography industry, through the transition from analog to digital and the impact of social media and the internet. This conversation with Professional Photographer magazine has been edited for length and clarity.

Mark Edward Harris (MEH): To what do you attribute your more than four decades of success in this ever-changing industry?

Dan Winters (DW): The short answer would be, I love what I do, and I think I have something to offer the universe. When I moved to Austin 27 years ago, even though I was moving out of significant markets—New York and LA—it didn’t frighten me because I always try my hardest and always try to deliver. I think longevity is based on that and not resting on your laurels. Also, I have a huge passion for the medium. I’ve studied its history extensively.

I have a massive library, and I’ve been able to adapt photography to my other interests, whether it’s aerospace, railroading, insects, or movies. It’s just following my interests and trying to figure out a way to apply the photographic process to those interests. 

MEH: While you shoot many different genres of photography, clients tend to hire you for portraiture, right?

DW: Early on [in my career], I had a love for portraiture. I was and still am interested in people. I was very inspired by Arnold Newman and Gregory Heisler and really loved what those guys were doing. Whenever I got a portrait assignment for the newspaper I was working for in Thousand Oaks at the beginning of my career, I would take my Norman lights and would try to really be mindful of the foreground and the background; it’s like two pictures. It’s a picture of the person and a picture of the person in whatever environment they’re in. Even if it’s seamless, you still have to consider that piece of the picture. I learned through trial and error.

MEH: And four decades later, you’re still going strong.

DW: A lot of guys that were coming up when I was aren’t in the game anymore. They’re doing other stuff. The magazine world is crumbling around us, the budgets have shrunk, so we’ve had to adapt to stay relevant in that world. Adapting to the climate is one recipe for longevity. For instance, I used to always travel with an assistant for a job in LA, but now clients want me to use locals to save money on travel. So, I’ve adapted and I have a whole battery of locals.

MEH: What would be an example of a shoot with high production values but done with a tighter budget?

DW: I just did a shoot with Emma Stone (below). I drove out to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with my cameras and strobe equipment and got grip equipment there, which was no problem because of all the movie production in the area. I created a whole set up on location. I had one day of prep. The photo editor from The Hollywood Reporter flew out to help me. We had a Suburban and went to Home Depot and bought lumber I painted. We set it up using C-stands and baby plates and a painted background I brought with me, and then we went to an antique mall and found a white couch for $100 that I aged using a Hudson sprayer so it looked like it was 100 years old. When you go to those lengths, the subject responds to that. They feel they need to rise to the occasion because so much effort has gone into preparing a beautiful set for them.

MEH: Your carpentry skills have enabled you to envision something and realize it yourself.

DW: I started as a model builder for movies when I was still in high school. All I thought about were special effects. One of the reasons I started photographing is because I wanted good pictures of my models. I sent photos of the models to Industrial Light & Magic when they were in Van Nuys and was invited to tour their facility. A short time after, one of the model builders I had met called me [and said], “Hey, I’m on this other project. We need guys. Do you think you could do it?” I was still in high school and started working as a model builder. I’ve always had carpentry skills. The Denzel Washington portrait for The New York Times Magazine was the first time I built a full set that represented the entire environment that was pictured (below). I did a forced perspective on that. The emotional approach is equally as important as the technical approach.

MEH: Your portrait of Laura Dern (below) has a sort of a greenish tint that seems to often appear in your portraiture and be part of your style. Was that done with lighting?

DW: I learned early on, if you don’t have a command over color, you’re not going to get a good color picture. I paint my sets and backgrounds. I control the wardrobe, including its color. Those things contribute to making a solid color photograph. I had made a shooting wall at my studio that I painted green for the shoot with Laura. It’s my favorite color. I don’t particularly like a white or gray seamless, although I use it when I need to. People think that there’s some digital approach to making it look like it does. There may be a little desaturation and a little clarity, but they’re not big moves at all. It’s just what it looks like in camera.

MEH: What’s your go-to lighting equipment?

DW: Typically Profoto but it’s also whatever’s around. I’ve also been using these little lights called Nanlite and they make a bunch of good modifiers. The only difference is, you have to be much more mindful of your shutter speed and camera movement when you’re shooting with hot lights. I think it’s a tool of the future because I could ostensibly travel with just two cases, shoot a job by myself, and completely slash what it costs me to do a job now.

MEH: Are you printing your own work?

DW: I started as a lab tech for the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle in 1984 before I started shooting for them and am still printing my own work. I learned the darkroom at Moorpark College, studying under my mentor John Gray while working as a carpenter. As a lab tech, I printed all day six days a week. You get pretty good when you’re making thousands of prints. I come from the tradition of fine art printers, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Minor White, who used the print as a way to express their passion, not solely what the image was. I had written on the wall of my darkroom for years: “The print will speak of the love that is imbued within it,” and I feel the same way about digital printing. It’s gotten so incredibly good.

MEH: Do you still shoot film on occasion?

DW: Rarely. I don’t see a need to shoot film anymore. I shot large format for 30-plus years because I loved the high fidelity results. But I have the Fujifilm GFX100 that I feel exceeds the 4x5’s capability. I also use the Fuji GFX 50R, which also has a medium-format sensor with unbelievable image quality and dynamic range. I use Fujifilm’s X100 all the time as well. It’s not even a full sensor camera but it’s like a little magic box.

MEH: Can you share a special photo experience?

DW: My portrait of Angelina Jolie (below) was for National Geographic. She’s involved in a worldwide movement with UNESCO to educate women beekeepers as a way to generate revenue for them. Whitney Johnson at Nat Geo told me, “You’ve raised bees since you were a kid. We want you to do something with bees with Angelina. I’ll leave it to you.” So, I called Angelina. She asked, “What about that picture of the guy with bees all over him?” And I said, “Oh, you’re talking about the picture [photographer Richard] Avedon took in 1981 of Ronald Fischer.” I tracked down Fischer and he sent me to the entomologist who Avedon used. They used a very calm strain of bees and a queen pheromone to attract them. I found a guy in Carpinteria, California, who raises this strain, and [the entomologist] loaned me the queen pheromone from the same bottle that Avedon used. I had an allergist go to Angelina’s house and test her because she had never been stung. We had a paramedic on set. We got her in wardrobe and hair and makeup, then I started putting queen pheromone on her with my finger where I wanted the bees to be. … I wanted the bees to look like pieces of jewelry on her. We shot for 18 minutes to get the shot, all done in camera, which is what National Geographic requires. She never flinched.

MEH: Who’s on your photography bucket list?

DW: I just did a shoot with Ringo Starr. He was on my bucket list. I’m a huge Beatles fan. Paul McCartney’s on the bucket list and Bob Dylan would be on the list for sure, and I like Cate Blanchett. I think she’s got an incredible physiognomy. There’s been only a couple of times in my career where we reached out and tried to do a portrait of someone without an assignment. One was to Lauren Bacall’s agent Johnnie Planco, a really great guy, because I love her and the films of that era. Then several months later, I got an assignment to photograph her for New York magazine (below).

It’s so interesting how the universe works. She showed up at the studio in New York and I was super nervous, and I rarely get nervous. At the time she was in her late 80s, and she came in with her dog. I said, “Miss Bacall…” [She answered] “Oh, call me Betty.” While she sat [in the hair and makeup chair] we were able to chat about [her late husbands Humphrey] Bogart and Jason Robards. She asked, “Do you think you can take a picture of my dog with my iPhone that I can use for wallpaper?” She was obsessed with me laying on the floor trying to do a portrait of her tiny dog. Our time together ended up being over two hours and was a big love fest, and the car just waited downstairs. The whole experience was wonderful. 

Mark Edward Harris is an award-winning photographer and writer based in Los Angeles.