That one thing is portraits. Dan’s interest in photography started early, when he was
seven and helped his father develop pictures in the family’s basement darkroom.
“It was a magical, mysterious experience,” he says. “Pouring chemicals, turning off the
lights, watching the picture simply appear on the paper.” He got his first camera,
a Brownie, when he was eight—a camera he still owns today.

Although he experimented with other forms of photography (landscapes, commercial art)
early in his career, Dan’s primary photographic interest has always been portraits.
He is particularly interested in capturing and illuminating individual personalities and relationships between individuals.

His favorite photograph as a child was a portrait of his mother, age 6, and her sister,
taken in the 1920’s by Dan’s great uncle, a professional photographer in Chicago.
“I was fascinated by the fact that a man who never lived past 1938 was able to create
something that not only survived him but was still beautiful in the 1960’s,” says Dan.
“It was really a timeless look.” In that portrait, his mother holds the skirt of her dress
out with one hand—a pose he loved then and that is still one of his favorites now.

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Barefoot and Warm: The Dan Brody Style


Dan’s focus on personalities and relationships led, over time, to a unique approach
and a distinctive, signature style. This style can be summed up as “barefoot and warm.
”It’s a casual, candid and intimate approach to portraits that illuminates the essence
of each person.

The most important element of this style springs from Dan’s emotional connection
with the people he photographs. “Most photographers like to stay behind the camera,”
he says. “I have a different approach. I show some of myself, which helps put people
at ease. Because you have to feel close to people, to connect with them, in order to
pull out something that makes them cry when they see it. Most people have a bit of
a brick wall around them. My job is to take those bricks away, one by one, until we see
the real person, the personality. At that point it’s not a photograph of Timmy, it is Timmy.
And that makes all the difference.”

Second, when you look at a Dan Brody portrait, you’ll notice that there are no cropped
body parts. Ever. Dan always photographs the entire body of the person he’s working
with. “Where do you cut someone off?” he asks. “It always looks weird. I’m interested in
the whole person, so why show just a bit of him or her?”

A third distinctive element of Dan’s style is that everyone he photographs is barefoot.
“Shoes are formal and keep your feet locked in,” he points out. “Most people are much
more comfortable without their shoes.” In addition, being barefoot sets a casual, relaxed
mood where the real personality of the person (or people) being photographed can
emerge. “It’s nice to be able to wiggle your feet, and it helps me get the warm, casual
look I want. Besides, the feet are a very interesting part of the body!”

The fourth element of the Dan Brody style is the consistent use of simple, classic
clothing and adornments. This simple clothing style lets the beauty of each person
shine through in the portrait and eliminates the distractions caused by patterned or stiff
fabric, extra makeup, bright nail polish and so on. This element of the Dan Brody style is contributed by Dan’s wife and business partner, Marcy, who left a career in the clothing
industry to work with him in photography.

Fifth, all of Dan’s studio portraits are photographed against a white background.
“When I was younger, I used to use different colors as backdrops,” he says. “But it was
really tough to match the colors of the clothes people were wearing to a backdrop color.
I didn’t feel that the final portrait looked quite right. Then I used white and I was thrilled. It makes everything look good.’”

A sixth distinctive element of Dan’s style is that all wall-size portraits are embedded on
canvas and finished with a clear lacquer (instead of being printed on paper). “Canvas
really brings the portrait to life,” Dan says. “It adds depth and texture to the image, as
well as a sense of immediacy. When you print a portrait on paper you have to frame it
with glass, and that becomes a barrier between you and the image. When the portrait
is finished on canvas, on the other hand, it’s right there with you. Canvas raises the level
of presentation of the portrait to the point where it’s something worthy of being called ‘art.’”

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The perfect setting


Dan Brody Photography offers both studio and beach settings to its portrait clients.
Beach portraits are available during the summer months in Margate, New Jersey. “Many people have beautiful beach memories involving their kids and families, which can add
an element of history and nostalgia to a portrait,” Dan says. “So that’s a great place for a
lot of people to have their portrait done.” Advantages of the studio, on the other hand,
include better lighting control, comfort, privacy, and a more contained environment—
which may be beneficial for families with small children.

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Dan and Marcy


Dan and Marcy Brody met and married while living in State College, Pennsylvania. Dan
is a native Philadelphian and Marcy was born in Pittsburgh. They have two children. “Our experience with raising our own children is a major reason why we enjoy and work well
with portraits of kids and families,” says Marcy. Marcy, who left a career in the clothing
industry to work for Dan Brody Photography full-time in 1995, runs the business end of
DBP and helps clients handle all the details that go into a successful portrait. You can
see her influence, as well as her extensive experience in the clothing industry, in the
simple, classic “look” of the clients in a Dan Brody portrait.

Dan, Marcy and the staff at Dan Brody Photography look forward to working with you.

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