An ongoing, if occasional and informal, portrait series starring people who do interesting things with their hands and a 3-foot by 5-foot bolt of black velvet that I carry to portrait shoots just in case…

3 hours to set up, 15 minutes to make the picture. A Sports Illustrated portrait shoot with Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy–and the end results.

Steel guitarist Marty Muse, a fellow barbecue aficionado, enlisted my help with some portraits…