When Is the Light Good in Your House?

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"There are millions of things that go on every day in my life that I take pay no attention to at all," she says. "So if you were taking a photograph of me with my child, would you ask me to think about those things? Yes, there's definitely a degree of acting that's taking place because I'm trying to create a moment." She adds: "I can't name any of the cars that our neighbors drive. I don't notice them".

When everyone is carrying a camera in their pocket, what raises the act of taking pictures to the level of fine art photography? Jessica Todd Harper, the award-winning portrait photographer, says that it's equal parts mindset and technique--and lots of setting the stage to seize that perfect light. Listen as Harper speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about her desire to capture the complexity of life in a single image, why family relationships and home life are her chosen subjects, and the integral role beauty plays in her images, despite its diminished status in art today.