With so many quality digital cameras out there, and so many (arguably talented) pro-amateur photographers, what value does an experienced photojournalist bring to a commercial job? It’s a question worth asking.

The best images—whether of people or of objects—don’t just record the scene.  They tell a story, expressed through body language, facial expression, light, mood and environment.

Take a look at Sergeant Detective Steve Webster. He’s a veteran of the South Portland police force and also the author of One Promise Kept: The case that made a cop, and others that almost broke him.   It’s a memoir of his decades of experience in law enforcement, centered around a high-profile case involving a home invasion. It’s a funny, gritty and sometimes shocking look into the world Steve inhabits every day.

One Promise Kept–co-written by Portland Press Herald journalist Trevor Maxwell, a former colleague of mine–is doing quite well.  Steve’s in growing demand as a public speaker.  If you heard him, you’d understand why.  He’s got a lot of great source material, and he’s natural storyteller.   The problem is that the only photo he had for handout materials shows him wearing jeans, leaning up against a wall, looking kind of like a surly version of the neighbor next door—with a gun.   Not gritty.  Not even close to the Law & Order type of shot I knew we’d have to get.   Very far removed from the feel and style of his book.

So, we met on a very cold spring day–the day before a Maine spring snowstorm was to roll in, when the clouds were building.  We arranged to shoot near the water right after before sunset, with a view of the city behind us.    Steve was great despite the sub-30 degree temperatures that literally turned his hands blue. The resulting image captures what I think One Promise Kept delves into—the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately necessary work of a solitary detective.