The plan was to do two shots, one in a booth at his flagship Ted’s Montana Grill in Atlanta and then a second upstairs in a conference room, which is what became the cover. The idea for the restaurant shot was to photograph him having lunch, with his business partner in the restaurant chain, so I did not need to interact much. Back in the conference room I tried to engage him while I was shooting and got a blank stare. I could not figure out what went wrong, did I say something I should not have, is he just not that nice, do I have spinach in my teeth? The next thing I knew his publicist leaned over and whispered in my ear, “ I forgot to tell you, Ted is a little hard of hearing in one ear!” I immediately started yelling at him and he became one of the most engaging, interesting and nicest people I have photographed.
