The Photographer as Subject: Ethan Hill

One of the joys of living in a city like New York is its abundance of creative artists, many of whom also devote some portion of their time to teaching. So it is with the subject of this profile, Ethan Hill, a photographer whom I met last spring in a course, “Lighting the Environmental Portrait,” at the International Center for Photography.

Ethan has had a long career in editorial photography. He started out at Newsweek in the era of darkrooms and expense accounts, and has continued working for major publications even as that profession, like journalism writ large, has undergone wave after painful wave of contraction. Although he has photographed more than a few celebrities—his portrait of Daniel Radcliffe, the “Harry Potter” star, can be seen in London’s National Portrait Gallery—Ethan has been especially drawn to people who might have every reason to be wary of a photographer’s lens: Young people struggling with eating disorders; survivors of clerical sexual abuse; wounded veterans back from Iraq or Afghanistan. One of his gifts, both as a photographer and as a teacher, is his ability to shift almost imperceptibly from friendly banter into a kind of alert stillness, a deep watchfulness that conveys both interest and respect.

It is this quality of expectant stillness that I sought to convey through my photos, made recently during a visit to Ethan’s Brooklyn workspace. Though as a student in his class I learned about the many tools photographers use to add light in dim situations, with Ethan’s encouragement—and the abundant glow from his studio’s tall windows—my only prop was a tripod, brought along to allow me to use my camera at slower shutter speeds.

I made these photos with my Rolleiflex 2.8F on Kodak Tri-X 400 film, rated at ISO 320 and developed in PMK Pyrocat Developer. The very light sepia tint, added digitally in post, is a nod to a darkroom technique Ethan has used to great effect in personal projects made with film cameras.

Although working with film is no longer a part of his daily routine, the objects in his studio—especially the large cast iron “nipping press”—speak to the analog dimension of an ongoing project: a multi-year effort to document the lives of gay men, in all of their diversity and complexity, and to present the photos in handmade portfolios. These gorgeous containers, fashioned in the studio by Ethan, draw on his skills as a bookbinder and speak to the intimate, bespoke nature of his art.

The photos below show major features of Ethan’s workspace: tall curtained windows that bring in soft northern light; a table where he cuts, assembles and glues together the items used in bookbinding; and the 19th century nipping press, a device which applies a firm pressure to these elements once they have been assembled and glued. The press produces the precise, even layers needed to build a polished and durable final binding.

Unlike many photographers, Ethan does not hang examples of his or anyone else’s work in his studio. In the frame below, he sits before a bare wall on one of a half-dozen lockers that, he mentioned casually, contain the totality of his pre-digital archive, countless thousands of negatives that document his early professional life.

In the final image, below, Ethan agreed to be photographed in front of the only example of his work close at hand, a portrait from the late 1990s of an East German great-aunt who played a significant role in his family’s history. Printed on fiber in the darkroom and warmly glowing from an ethereal sepia wash, it is a far more commanding and subtle image than I have ever achieved.

In teaching me, and generously allowing me to practice my craft by making this series and sharing it with the 35mmc community, Ethan is helping me as, bit by bit, I develop my own photographic voice.

Thanks so much for reading.

FEATURED IMAGE: Ethan Hill at Work, 2026.

You can see more of my work at www.leica1933.com.

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