Mikki Ansin profile

I went to grad school to be a screenplay writer, but once I got my hands on the equipment, something clicked in my brain.

I work as a photojournalist who specializes in people, politics, and film. My career was launched when my first pictures of a little-known presidential candidate ran as a double-page spread in the New York Times Sunday magazine. Professionally it was like being shot out of a canon, especially after "Jimmy" became President Carter. Since then I've worked with Merchant Ivory Productions, Gamma/Liaison Agency and Getty Images and the Kennedy Foundation. Familiar faces I've worked with include Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Newman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Susan Sarandon. My photos have been published in the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The London Times, Time, Life, People and Paris Match.

Paris and France in general have been my loves for decades; every year I visit family, friends and colleagues in Paris, Provence, Brittany, and the Côte d'Azur. I wouldn't be able to pick any favorite subject, I love all things French: roses, noses, paper, kids, trash collectors, the mailman. Stone walls, Paris windows. Cypress trees. bridges. People always and forever.

After many years of carrying heavy equipment, I have finally pared my cameras down for travel to France. I'm totally digital now: a 2" x 3" point and shoot; it is always with me (therefore is my best camera), a Canon G11, finally a Nikon body with an 18-200 mm lens.

Remember, it's not the camera that takes the picture.....

General advice: follow the light, be prepared, stay loose, and fill the frame.

Please go to my blog: mikkipixandtalks.posterous.com and make comments if you wish. Email me at mikkiansin@me.com.

I'm busy working on a book about the movies.