Philadelphia Magazine contacted us asking if we could photograph PA Governor Josh Shapiro sometime during the week before Christmas… sounded like a great pre-holiday assignment! A few days later we were in his office at the state capital in Harrisburg.

Our composition was always going to be stately and formal, but we wanted to capture a bit of the Gov’s kind and approachable demeanor, too.

We’d photographed the Governor in Philadelphia before he was elected in 2022 (image below) for an earlier Philly Mag feature, so it was nice to have the opportunity to congratulate him in person a year or so later.

Josh Shapiro, Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, September 2022

My youngest son’s school was already on break for the holidays so we brought him along to the shoot. He’s 13 years old. I put him to work moving equipment around and standing in as a test model. After the shoot was over Governor Shapiro gave him a personal tour of his office. Young Ro seemed genuinely interested in the history lesson and even held his own while the Gov peppered him with civics questions! It was a really fun and heartwarming to experience. So many thanks to the Governor and his staff for making this photoshoot extra memorable!