The CSO Engineers of Greeley & Hansen

CSO means Combined Sewer Overflow, which is what happens when it rains a lot in Richmond and the storm drains become overloaded.  A "CSO Event" is when the storm drains and the sewer system combine and overflow into the James River.  Not an ideal situation, but apparently not all that uncommon with cities situated on rivers. 

A few years back, Richmond initiated a massive restructuring of the overflow system, to help minimize the amount of storm water that was flowing directly into the river.  The engineering firm that is responsible for our city's new system is Greeley & Hansen, which is based in Chicago, with a large office here in Richmond. 

A member of the communications staff in Chicago contacted us recently, and asked if we could spend a day photographing the Richmond engineers and staff in their offices, working in teams.  The folks in the Richmond office were great to work with. The goal was to create images that looked spontaneous and not posed.

As in most offices, there was a "break-out" area that allows a small team to sit together and work on something without the formality of a conference room.

I particularly like the image above because none of the subjects are looking at the camera.  I was holding the camera (on a monopod, if memory serves) just a few inches above the surface of the table.  My goal was to make the viewer feel like they were part of the meeting.

We were also interested in keeping the images crisp and a little on the "cool" side, reinforcing the modern feel of the office environment. It might look like we relied solely on the existing office lighting (overhead fluorescent fixtures).  If we'd done that, we never would have achieved the sharpness of this image or the direction of the light (our lights were placed about eye-level with the subjects.)

To add depth and interest to the composition, we placed a light in the small office that appears in the background behind the subjects.  Notice the slight blue tint, thanks to a blue gel photo assistant Hassan Pitts clipped to the front of the strobe head.  We also added a light in the hallway to the left.  It illuminated the wall behind the subjects (it too had a light blue gel) and added an edge/rim light to the woman seated on the far left at the table (notice the highlight on the camera-left side of her head.)

Strobe Alchemy & Happy Accidents

Ahh, I love accidents.  Like when the chemistry in an old black and white Polaroid gets too hot, or there is a light leak somewhere in the Holga.  Good times.

For me, accidents that "work" are immensely pleasurable.  But I can't build a business on them.  Imagine pitching a client this: "were gonna try all these difererent things, some might work, some might not.  We might get some great shots, but we might not get anything at all.  Oh, and we still expect to invoice you and get paid after the shoot."  Uh, huh.  Yeah, clients are lining up to sign-off on that estimate.

Nowadays, happy accidents often occur when I'm setting up a shot.  This is Hassan, a photographer who works with me often on location shoots.  We were setting up lights (strobes) in an the interior hallway with no windows, just doorways leading to offices.  We used the office doorways to "hide" our lights in.

This historic tobacco warehouse, in Richmond's Shockoe Slip, houses the offices of Thompson McMullan.  And the old building is a big part of the law firm's personality.  While much of the lighting there is directional,  it's too weak to shoot with (in other words, the lights are too dim for the shutter speed and ISO we wanted to use).   So, using our Dynalite strobes and grip gear, our goal became to create atmospheric light, directional with a little edge to it.

The "laser beam" on Hassan's left, our right, is one of our strobes standing a little to far out to the doorway of the closest office to the camera.  What we're seeing is technically called "lens flare" similar to what happens when you point your camera directly at the sun.  But doesn't it look cool?   Yeah, but a little too edgy for a lawyer who practices business law and commercial litigation. 

So here is what we finally came up with.  The lights behind and to the sides on our subject, attorney Sherry Fox, are directional and very contrasty.  They outline the architecture of the old warehouse with it's exposed beams and massive pillars, providing texture and depth for the environmental.  Also,  the edge lights on the human subject give her dimension and keep her from flattening out against the background.

Credits go to Winifred Halliday (stylist) and Hassan Pitts, (photographer's assistant) and client Amy Smith, Marketing Director at Thompson McMullan.

Good boys just wanna look bad.

Never fails.  The nicest, most polite kids in the world come to the studio.  Their grandmother, my neighbor, Debra, has assured me they will be good. 

And indeed, they turn out to be some of the best behaved boys I've ever met.   They change into their white shirts and take turns posing for grandma's Christmas portraits.  They smile like angels.

After I've told them how to sit, stand and pose for a few minutes, I ask them what they want to do in front of the camera.  Suddenly, they're all tough: pro-athletes, hip-hop artists, movie stars.  The stand like rouges giving me "the look."

But that bad boy look isn't exactly what the grown ups want to see in an 8x10 on the mantle.  So I've got to soften it, make the boys more approachable.

 Of course, this "back to back" pose above has been done a zillion times.  Why?  Because it works. If you stop and think about it, it shows independence and connectedness.  Perfect for team athletes or siblings. Fortunately, the boys liked the pose too.  They'd probably seen it before on some sports hero poster.  

The one thing that I did was raise up the boy on the right, Trey.  His older brother, Terrance was about 12-14 inches taller.  When I first posed them, the height difference was too much...I needed to see the faces closer together.   A full apple box gave Trey the boost he needed to bring his head up to Terrance's neck, yet still convey the age/size difference of the brothers.

Chutzpah meets my new/old chair.

The kid is Trey.  The chair is a rescue from the Dock Master's office at Richmond Yacht Basin. 

The chair is solid oak, circa 1930's(?).  It has years of sweat, solvents and stains unevenly permeating the grain.  The previous owner said he was "gonna toss it into the dumpster".  Well, we just couldn't let that happen (another good reason to own a pickup truck and have a husband with a strong back!)

I saved the chair because wanted to see what people would look like seated in it.  It's really fun to sit in.  It swivels, rolls tilts, and is rock solid. 

My goal with portraiture is to give the subject whatever he/she needs to be themselves, or release whatever side of their personality wants to be "out" the day of the shoot.

Because this chair's personality seemed so welcoming and secure, I was hoping it would help give the subjects something to work with or relax in before the camera.

Young Trey (charming, witty and full of chutzpah) has the honor of being the first person to have their portrait made in this chair.  The day of the shoot, we called it "the grandpa chair".   He's a little small for it, his feet couldn't touch the floor.  So just out of view, his huge sneakers are propped up on a half apple box.  That allowed him to have his knees at a 90-degree angle, so he could place his elbows comfortably.   I love this pose on him.  The composition is the classic triangle (arms to head) atop an inverted triangle (knees to ankles.) 

I'll continue to have folks sit in this chair at the studio (gawd, it's too heavy to take on location--but if you got the budget, I got the brawn) and see if we can create a body of work with this chair.

New Years Resolution

Blog more.  Videography: a new passion. 

The image above is from the pre-Christmas blizzard we had here in Richmond, VA.  This is the entrance of the Tricycle Garden on Jefferson Avenue (right next door to the studio,) in Union Hill where a classic trike sits perched atop the entrance gate.