To my surprise, before the photo shoot even happened, David disclosed to me that he and the CEO, had visited my website and liked what they saw. So they asked me if I would be interested in taking a series of photos for their executive leadership team. After a few text and e-mail exchanges with David, we coordinated another meeting to tour location options for the photo shoot and to discuss the look and plan for their executive head shots. David showed me their current executive photos and I was told quickly they we ready for a fresh, new and different look compared to their last photo shoot which was nearly five years ago. I made a few recommendations on the direction I was thinking and showed him a few inspiration photos for reference.
Less than two weeks later, we were shooting.
I always recommend to anyone who wants basic executive head shots to considering doing a more casual portrait on the same day. There is a definite need for formal, executive photos, but there is also need for something a little less buttoned up. I like to call them Casual Friday portraits. Something more relaxed and a little softer. Instead of the location being their corporate headquarters, we went back to the lab (where I took the Arkansas Business photo) and we used the offices as a background. I like the contemporary mix of wood doors, steel framing and glass walls. That was my choice for the Casual Friday photos For the head shots: white seamless paper.
We did a two light setup at once. At one end of the hallway, was the Casual Friday with a simple two light setup: The key light was a Profoto B10, at camera left, and a deep white umbrella with a diffusion panel. The kicker light at camera right was a Profoto B1X and a shoot through umbrella to light the hallway with a slight bit of light on their (camera) right shoulder, cheek and hair.
Way in the back against a wall, I set up a 10-foot roll of seamless paper in Arctic White. Lighting the background were two Profoto B2s, each with a silver umbrella with a black backing. The key light directly behind me and over my head was a Profoto B10 and a deep white umbrella with a diffusion panel. Side lights were another Profoto B2 set with gridded strip boxes. In full disclosure: one of the strip boxes was bent and would not lock down so I used my Westcott Beauty Dish and a grid and it worked perfectly. Underneath and in front of each person was a Westcott Eyelighter with white fabric.
Per my recommendation, I brought in hair and makeup to polish off everyone’s look. Each person brought a few suits, ties choices and Casual Friday options so we mixed and matched wardrobe.
Here are some of my favorites from the photo shoot. You can see each person’s executive head shot on the Windstream website.
