Making the Most out of a Business Portrait

Not all assignments are created equal.  Sometimes you get an assignment and all the right ingredients of light and moments are seemingly lined up for you just to push the button.  And then there are the other 99% of assignments.  These fall into the categories of awful to not-so-great.  But there is opportunity in all of them.  Many of them are portrait assignments.  When I worked at The News & Messenger, I had my fair share.  Sometimes they were destined to be dreadful.  Horrible light, an unwilling subject combined with very little time.

Recently I had the privilege of photographing Mike Infurnari for The Fairfax Times.  He was just named the new Executive Director of the Foundation for Fairfax County Schools.  I knew the setting would make the picture, but I did have time on my side.  Thankfully, Mike told me he had "the whole morning open".  To a photographer, this actually sounds like "you can take the whole morning to make a great picture".  Of course this isn't exactly what it means.  He is very busy and was trying to be accommodating.  So I tried to split the difference, and he was gracious enough to give me a couple hours.  Most of that time was spent walking around the bland office building trying to find a spot other than his office to shoot.  I hate shooting portraits in offices.  They rarely turn out to be interesting.

But I did find a wide open and empty cafeteria with beautiful light.  And on the way up the elevator I suddenly realized this was a great spot.

In each spot I used 2 speedlights, to different effects.  I think i've turned a corner in my lighting philosophy.  I think I spent most of my newspaper career as trying to flex my muscles to prove that I could light.  Now I'm very interested in the idea of making it look like it isn't  lit at all.  Mostly I wanted it to look like it wasn't being lit, or if it did look like it was lit, it was very subtly.