PPMAG.COM“Say you are with a group of photographers who are shoot-
ing the same model on a white background. How do you make
your image different from everyone else’s? How do you add
your own twist? I might shoot the model so part of her is in
shadow. Or I could use a filter, gel, lens flare, or other unique
lighting decisions. I’m always looking to add my own twist.”
Flipping through the diverse portfolio of the 45-year-old pho-
tographer’s work, it’s clear she’s succeeded in adding her own
twist to photography for prestige clients that include the Ford
Motor Co., Kenneth Cole, Chevrolet, Martha Stewart Living, the
State of Michigan, and scores of others. She’s also found time to
photograph for charities and produced two self-financed books
of her personal work, “Heart Soul Detroit: Conversations on
the Motor City,” and “D-Cyphered.”Very clever
After earning a BFA in photography from Detroit’s College of
Creative Studies in 1997, Risher spent a year as an assistant
in a Detroit auto photographer’s studio. “I was the low person
on the totem pole,” she remembers. After a year of making
countless pictures of tires, she moved to New York City, where
she’d earlier spent a semester studying at the Parsons School
of Design. She landed one-year gigs as an assistant to legend-
ary fashion photographers Francesco Scavullo and Patrick
Demarchelier. “Those were invaluable introductions to the
world of fashion photography,” she remembers. “I learned so
much about photography as well as people skills.”
After two years as a photo assistant she set out on her own
and landed commercial work such as catalog shoots and still74