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Eleanor Holmes Norton has represented the District of Columbia in the United States Congress since 1991. Former chair of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and professor at Georgetown University Law School, Ms. Norton is a third-generation Washingtonian and longtime voting-rights advocate.

When planning this portrait, I decided to shoot Congresswoman Norton’s profile – an angle which I thought communicated the understated dignity of her unique position as a legislator without a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, she quickly nixed this idea.

“No woman wants to be filmed from the side,” the Congresswoman said.