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.