Freelance photographer Carla Richmond, currently based between San Diego and Los Angeles, shares some environmental portraits.

I am madly in love with photography. It is the only way that I know how to make sense of the world. I was born in Mexico City, but I lived in 11 different places by the time I graduated high school – and countless more since then. I have been able to let go of most of my sadness around this by recognizing that it is precisely this itinerant existence that has taught me how to see. How to look deeply. I began making photographs in high school. It was during a time that I felt like I had no stability. The moment I picked up a camera something changed. There is something about composing a frame that gave me this huge sense of relief – or I guess it was a sense of control. I use portraiture as a medium to study and observe people in relation to their domestic and professional environments. This allows for me to really look at my personal relationship to the ideas of ‘home’ and ‘work’.

Capturing average individuals in everyday settings across America is a well established tradition. So many remarkable photographers have covered this territory: Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Joel Sternfeld, Alec Soth, Stephen Shore. I hope to bring a new perspective. I closely identify with Alec Soth’s process – the way he wanders… his search for beauty in the banal… and the role that serendipity plays in how he finds his subjects. My bodies of work have unfolded in a similar fashion. I take a long time to set up my shots. I always use a tripod and a level. I don’t shoot a lot – mostly only one set-up and maybe up to 5 frames. I spend as much time as possible with my subjects before making the photograph.

See more photos on Carla’s website.