Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 9 | Page 10

I

n 2001, Hartcorn was living in Annapolis, practicing as a personal
financial advisor. He traveled on a

ticeably yet calmly intense. Like any
artist, this intensity is most visible
in his need to control the many mov-

when they are moving with you, fluidly, and in doing so, they stop worrying about being photographed and
their true essence comes out and that
is what I am looking for. That’s what
I live for.”
hen I ask David how he
ing parts of his subject matter and
sees his brand moving formedium. “Here in the studio I have
ward, how he looks to craft
complete control over light. Sun is “The Hartcorn Studio Aesthetic,” he
never an issue. Humidity hair is not a says that he still loves black and
thing. In here people can wear winter white, that he is a bit of a classicist,
clothes in the summer”.
and that he looks forward to conDespite his intensity, Hartcorn tinuously improving his craft and to
is a gracious and warm conversa- growing his business. Unlike other
tionalist able to put even the most photographers, Hartcorn has put in
self-conscious person at ease. This place a four-person team to support
ability is an especially handy skill the studio; together they are purwhen he has to deal with people un- posefully crafting an artistic aesthetcomfortable in front of the camera, or ic of a quality not seen anywhere else
children, or when he must work on a in Annapolis. “When I was in the 4th
whim. One of his most famous shots grade, looking at those photographs

“I WAS BETTER LUCKY THAN GOOD.”
relief mission with Tom O’Leary and
other friends to El Salvador, where
he started taking pictures again, and
where he remembered how much he
loved the art and the craft.
In 2003 he rode his bike to historic
Annapolis hoping to catch the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel, bringing
along his brand new, first ever digital
camera. “I climbed this ladder onto
the roof of Buddies Crabs and Ribs,
and when I got to the top, I saw this
great panorama