My approach to portraits is to work with people or animals in their own environment or a favorite location, rather than in a studio setting.
Self portrait
This is probably the ultimate environmental portrait. Kate in the background is me at 19 years old, when I first starting seriously working in photography. The photo was taken near Wrightstown, NJ, by an oak tree that is more than 400 years old. The image in the camera lens is me at 18 months old perusing a newspaper.