Russell Monk’s Open-Air Studio

He had been living like the typical artsy expat in the center of San Miguel de Allende when he decided to uproot himself and buy a small house on the outskirts of town. There, he began doing portraits of his Mexican neighbors, starting with Isabel, the matriarch of a large family who lived on the other side of his back wall.

“People ask how you light those,” he said. “I don’t — they’re all natural light. You can’t beat that.”