Having spent nearly 20-years working in corporate america in various marketing roles, it should come as no surprise that I really enjoy assignments that get me back to my roots. Many of my clients do what I use to do and I understand how important images are for them to effectively tell their story. While I don’t miss the hours spent in a cube, I do miss the incredible people that I worked with. So getting the opportunity to photograph leaders in the business community is always a treat.
While some aren’t always willing participants, I can usually find a topic to discuss that will put them at ease and in most cases it is centered around vacations, children or grandchildren. I love no greater challenge than when my client tells me you won’t get a smile out of a particular individual.
The image above and below were shot for my previous employer (as they say “never burn a bridge”) They were needing updated environmental portraits of several key architects and designers for an upcoming project pursuit. Having worked in that particular office before, I already had in mind several locations that would lend themselves to the look we were after and offered good clean lines and plenty of natural light.
The image of the CEO was taken for a national foundation. I spent the day photographing executive portraits of key staff but suggested to my client that we consider spending a little extra time with the CEO to capture some environmental portraits that they could use in future Annual Reports or other marketing related materials. I always try to be respectful of any individuals time especially when a shoot takes place during the course of a business day. Again in this case I kept it simple and found a location near a large bank of windows. Configuring an elaborate lighting set-up would have taken too much time and frankly wasn’t necessary. For this image I wanted to convey the thoughtful and reflective side of this individual. So I simply directed him to look out the window and think about some challenge facing the foundation.
For this assignment the client was looking to capture a series of environmental portraits and working candids. This individual was a candidate for “Woman who Mean Business”, a recognition program sponsored by the Kansas City Business Journal. The images would be used in the slide presentation at the award banquet and by the Firm in future marketing publications. Again I was fortunate to be working in another great space with high ceilings and lots of natural light. This particular image blended both requirements of being a portrait but the pose was meant to convey a typical moment in her day.
This image was a part of a larger series of images that were shot for KC Business Magazine feature “Influential Women of Kansas City”. These are women that are successful in their career and also contribute significantly to the community by actively serving on boards and committees. In total we photographed 30 women at an old, beautifully restored downtown hotel.
All images were shot on either a Nikon D700 or D800 with a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 lense. As stated above in most cases I shot using available light. The only exception is with the last two images which required fill light from camera right. It both situations I used an Elinchrom Quadra strobe shot through a Midi Deep Octa Softbox.
Tags: Architecture, D700, Editorial, Editorial Portrait, Elinchrom Ranger Quadra, Executive Portrait, Kansas, Kansas City, KC Business Magazine, Nikon, Photography