Melanie, from the 01/28/12 First Light workshop.

Fifty-year-old professional bonsai artist Boon Manakitivipart with a 40-year-old Kingville Boxwood tree.

We made room in the last workshop for 25 attendees. When the doors opened, 43 people showed up. Needless to say, we improvised, adapted, and overcame — a little tactic I picked up in the Marine Corps. The image above is one we made of Musician Clement Charles with a large elinchrom octa bank as key and back-lit with a gridded snoot. The lens flare comes directly from the snoot, and was not added in post.

Here we go again with another installment of Guest Edit, a little game where I bear my creative soul and the world at large plays judge, jury, and executioner. Or liberator, depending on your frame of mind.

These particular images rose to the top recently when I was archiving a shoot from a Google Plus photo walk with the lovely and talented +Catherine Hall. They are very similar, obviously. But I have my favorite. The question I put to you is which one speaks to you, and why.

Have at it. And share if you like.

When I told my young son about the homeless project I was working on, I could see his wheels spinning. He seemed to have a hard time understanding a concept so far removed from his day-to-day reality. But it took no time at all for him to disappear into his room and emerge with a handful of change he had rounded up. When I later gave Gabe’s gift to a homeless man I’d grown to trust, the 60-year-old man was moved to tears. I couldn’t be more proud.