My friend Suzzanne Cromwell of the Cultural Organization of Lowell recently introduced me to Dug North, and what a find! Dug is an artisan who creates "automated wooden sculpture", or automata. This was a really fun shoot because in his home, at Lowell's Ayer Lofts, he has his very own vault! Apparently, the building was once a patent medicine company, and the vault was used to store who-knows-what...cash, drugs, poison? In those days were the latter two different? Today, Dug uses it as his workshop, allowing him to work at any hour without disturbing his neighbors. Plus it's very cool!


Obviously, I wanted to capture him in this environment, along with at least some of his work. He told me that most of his work is sold almost as soon as it is finished, which is the dream of most any artist, but also proved to be a challenge for us in setting up the shot. Fortunately, a piece that he was showing at the Ayer Art Gallery, down stairs from his condo, was freeing up.

This last shot is my favorite from the shoot though. The flourescent ambient light was very cool, and his expression is just right!

Visit his very full web site here: http://dugnorth.com