Rory Lewis

08/24/2026

Captain Glennon, Los Angeles Fire Department.

Since its founding, Heroes in Focus — the Rory Lewis Non Profit — has held a simple conviction: those who serve in uniform deserve to be recorded with the gravity history reserves for statesmen and sovereigns. Until now, that has chiefly meant soldiers.

But service in uniform does not end with the armed forces. In the city I now call home, we open a new chapter with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The Sitter

There is a particular stillness in people who have spent a career moving toward what everyone else is fleeing. Captain Glennon has it. A near twenty-year veteran, captain and paramedic, he sat as soldiers sit: upright, unhurried, direct. No performance. The face does the work.

The Portraits

We made three studies.

The first, in duty uniform against burnished gold — an echo of the gilded panels of the early Renaissance.

The second, in formal dress uniform: white-crowned cap, badge, and the bearing of civic tradition.

The third, in full turnout gear: helmet, breathing apparatus, and a coat carrying the honest marks of the job. This is not costume; it is equipment.

Together they form a triptych — the officer, the tradition, and the work itself.

All Who Serve

This nonprofit exists to honor all who serve in uniform — firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and members of the armed forces.

Every portrait is made at no cost to the sitter or their institution, to full archival standard, and destined for permanent public collections.

Making history one portrait at a time.

Nominate. Donate.

This work is funded entirely by donation, and every sitting is given freely.

If you know someone in uniform whose service deserves to be recorded, nominate them through Rory Lewis Studio.

If you can help fund the next sitting, please consider donating. And if neither is possible, sharing Captain Glennon’s portrait costs nothing — and honors him just the same.

08/22/2026

Masterclass: Headshots & Portrait Photography — Samy's Camera, Los Angeles, 12 September 2026.

On Saturday 12 September I am teaching a headshot and portrait masterclass at Samy's Camera on Fairfax Avenue, in the fourth-floor classroom. It runs from midday until five, professional models are provided throughout, and the class is deliberately small.

Five hours is not long. So the day is structured tightly, and almost all of it is spent shooting.

On Saturday 12 September I am teaching a headshot and portrait masterclass at Samy's Camera on Fairfax Avenue, in the fourth-floor classroom. It runs from midday until five, professional models are provided throughout, and the class is deliberately small. Five hours is not long. So the day is str

08/16/2026

A Month in Los Angeles: Sittings, Headshots & Tuition.

My Los Angeles diary is open from 14 August to 17 September, and I am now taking bookings for headshot sessions, commissioned portrait sittings, and private tuition. After 17 September I return to London and New York, and these are the last extended Los Angeles dates before the autumn.

14 August – 17 September 2026 · 411 S Main Street, Unit 222, Downtown Los Angeles My Los Angeles diary is open from 14 August to 17 September , and I am now taking bookings for headshot sessions, commissioned portrait sittings, and private tuition. After 17 September I return to London and New Yo...

08/16/2026

Why Every Leadership Page Looks the Same.

Open twenty corporate leadership pages and you will see the same photograph twenty times. Grey background or white. Even light, no shadow anywhere. A slight turn of the shoulders. An expression somewhere between welcome and apology. The subjects differ; the portraits do not.

Open twenty corporate leadership pages and you will see the same photograph twenty times. Grey background or white. Even light, no shadow anywhere. A slight turn of the shoulders. An expression somewhere between welcome and apology. The subjects differ; the portraits do not.

08/16/2026

Photographing Ray Dalio.

Some sitters arrive having decided in advance what a photograph is for. Ray Dalio is one of them.

Some sitters arrive having decided in advance what a photograph is for. Ray Dalio is one of them. He is a man who has spent decades being listened to carefully, and who has written at length about how thinking should be done. That produces a particular problem for a portraitist, and it is not the

08/02/2026

Alex Wyndham Headshots. Rory Lewis Photographer, Los Angeles.

Some faces have a timeless quality, and Alex Wyndham is certainly one of them. Best known for his acclaimed portrayal of Maecenas in HBO’s Rome, Alex stepped into Rory Lewis’ Downtown Los Angeles studio for a portrait session inspired by the dramatic light and atmosphere of the Old Masters.

Using his signature Caravaggio-inspired style, Rory created a series of striking portraits that celebrate character, depth, and authenticity. The result is a collection of cinematic images that reveal both the strength and subtlety behind one of Britain’s finest actors.

A privilege to welcome Alex to the studio and add his portrait to Rory Lewis’ ongoing collection of actors, artists, and remarkable individuals.

There's a particular pleasure in a sitter you clock the moment they come through the door, and Alex Wyndham was one of them — Maecenas himself, Octavian's silken fixer from the second season of Rome , standing in my Downtown LA studio some seventeen years on and none the worse for it. I confess

08/02/2026

More Than a Headshot. Nick Pritchard in Los Angeles.

A great portrait goes beyond appearance—it captures character.

It was a pleasure welcoming actor and singer Nick Pritchard to my Downtown Los Angeles studio. Known for his role in Rivals and his acclaimed stage career, Nick brought a quiet confidence and authenticity that translated beautifully in front of the camera.

Every session is about more than creating a headshot. It’s about revealing something genuine—an image that feels timeless, personal, and true to the individual.

Read the full story and see more portraits via the link in my bio.

There is a particular quiet that settles over a portrait sitting when the subject is, by trade, a maker of sound. The performer who fills a room — who has stood in front of seventeen thousand people at the Coca-Cola Arena and held them — arrives in my studio and discovers that the only instrumen...

08/01/2026

Two-Day Portrait Photography Masterclass — Downtown Los Angeles Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th August 2026.

Join award-winning portrait photographer Rory Lewis for an intensive two-day masterclass at his Downtown Los Angeles studio. Over the course of two immersive days, you’ll photograph eight professional models—including a well-known face or two—while mastering the craft of portrait lighting, portfolio-building setups, and fine art printing on exquisite Hahnemühle paper.

Join award-winning portrait photographer Rory Lewis for an intensive two-day masterclass at his Downtown Los Angeles studio. Over the course of two immersive days, you’ll photograph eight professional models —including a well-known face or two—while mastering the craft of portrait lighting, po

07/26/2026

New York, 9–13 August: Actor Headshots and Corporate Portraits in Midtown Manhattan.

I return to New York this August. From Saturday 9 to Wednesday 13 August, my studio at 580 8th Avenue — twenty floors above the Garment District, a few minutes' walk from Times Square and the theatre houses — will be open for actor headshots, portrait sittings, and corporate headshots.

I return to New York this August. From Saturday 9 to Wednesday 13 August , my studio at 580 8th Avenue — twenty floors above the Garment District, a few minutes' walk from Times Square and the theatre houses — will be open for actor headshots, portrait sittings, and corporate headshots.

07/24/2026

Andy Burnham: The King of the North Enters Downing Street — The Fifth Prime Minister of My Career.

Andy Burnham accepted the invitation of King Charles III to form a government, and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Speaking outside Number 10 — no lectern, standing freely in the street in that unmistakably direct Northern manner — he promised a "circuit breaker for Britain." My warmest congratulations to him. It is a remarkable moment for the country, and, I confess, a quietly extraordinary one for me.

In December 2021, Andy sat for me in Manchester. He was then Mayor of Greater Manchester, freshly re-elected, and already carrying the nickname the press had given him during the pandemic: the King of the North. What struck me in that sitting was the same quality the nation has since come to know — an authority rooted as much in conviction as in connection. With his elevation to the premiership, that portrait takes on a new weight. Andy Burnham becomes the fifth British Prime Minister to have sat before my lens.

Yesterday, Andy Burnham accepted the invitation of King Charles III to form a government, and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Speaking outside Number 10 — no lectern, standing freely in the street in that unmistakably direct Northern manner — he promised a "circuit breaker for Br