Executive Head Shots | Project for Windstream | Arkansas Head Shot Photographer

I’ve proudly been working with Arkansas Business, and their parent company, Arkansas Business Publishing Group, for several years. Arkansas Business is Arkansas’ leading and most well-respect magazine and newspaper focusing on all things business.

I received an assignment from one of their reporters to photograph Tony Thomas, the CEO of Windstream for an upcoming article. Windstream, is a provider of voice and data network communications to businesses in the United States. It is the ninth largest residential telephone provider in the country with service covering more than 8 million people in 21 states.

I always ask for a brief synopsis of what the feature is about so I can take an appropriate photo to accompany what is written. I coordinated the photo shoot with their director of media relations, David Avery, and a date and time was set. He was also kind enough to send me a few iPhone photos of a location he recommended. It was a tech-y room with several rows of servers. I knew Tony Thomas had a limited amount of time for the photo shoot so I arrived early — which I do for all photo shoots, especially with CEO’s since their time is limited.

I set up lights, tested… and tested again…. We were done in under 30 minutes.

I used a simple, three light setup: The key light was a Profoto B10 with a Westcott Beauty Dish and a honeycomb grid. Directly behind Thomas at waist height is a Profoto B2 with a party green gel and a 20-degree grid facing away from him and reflecting off of steel metal cabinet doors. Out of frame at camera right is another Profoto B2 with party gel blue and barn doors.

Tony Thomas, CEO of Windstream. Photographed for Arkansas Business.

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.

Windstream

Commercial Interiors | Rock Dental Brands | Evo Business Environments

In case you didn’t know, the world slowed down for a quite a while earlier this spring.

The global pandemic Covid-19 tore through Arkansas, the rest of the US and the world (it’s still on a tear) but in early March, we knew little about it. On Friday March 13, 2020, I teamed up with long-time client, Evo Business Environments to photograph the corporate headquarters of Rock Dental Brands located in Little Rock’s East Village.

We were lucky to get this photo shoot in when we did because that following Monday, the State of Arkansas as well as much of the US, shut down non-essential businesses for several months and a huge portion of the workforce, started working from home. That trend continues today.

Here are some of my favorite photos from that shoot.

Scott McGehee: Proprietor of the Year Arkansas Food Hall of Fame | Arkansas Food Photographer

You may not know his name, but if you live in Arkansas, chances are you’ve eaten at one or more of his restaurants: Big Orange, Local Lime, Heights Taco & Tamale, Lost Forty Brewing and ZAZA Fine Salad & Wood Oven Pizza Co.

Scott McGehee is the executive chef behind Yellow Rocket Concepts restaurants which are some of the most popular in the state. McGehee was recently named Proprietor of the Year by the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.

I spent an afternoon in early March photographing McGehee for a recent feature in Arkansas Living Magazine, published by the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. You can read the current issue of Arkansas Living here.

Scott McGehee is the executive chef behind Yellow Rocket Concepts

I met McGehee at Big Orange Burger in Little Rock’s Midtowne district. We had a relatively tight schedule and a lot to photograph. I wanted to photograph him at three different locations without taking up too much of his time. He told me he allocated three hours for the photo shoot and I was thrilled to have this much time. If you know Scott, he goes at 90-to-nothing.

We started with a portrait of him at the bar and then moved on to photographing a trio of their signature burgers and a bowl of their famous cheese dip. Cheese dip runs in his blood and in his family…literally. His father, Frank was the co-creator of white cheese dip and was a partner in Little Rock’s Blue Mesa Grill and Juanita’s.

A trio of burgers from Big Orange (from left): the Smashed Avocado Turkey Burger, theFarmer's Burger and the White Truffle & Pecorino.

From Big Orange, we headed to Heights Taco & Tamale Co. for a taste and preview of their offerings.

Lastly, we headed over to ZAZA Fine Salad & Wood Oven Pizza Co. ZAZA is my personal favorite. I could eat the ZAZA Italian Sausage Pizza ALL DAY. EVERY DAY. I wanted to get a few cooking shots in additional to the portraits and styled food photos so McGehee donned his apron and whipped up a classic Pizza Margherita.

There is no better way to cook a pizza than in a wood-fired oven. Period. Go ahead, argue your case.

For fans of his restaurants who live in Northwest Arkansas, your wishes are coming true. Bentonville Taco & Tamale Co. is coming soon. The menu will feature an Ark-Mex menu designed by McGehee. The menu is also expected to include fan favorites. The new restaurant will be located on the Bentonville Square at 101 W. Central Ave., and is projected to open in fall 2020. This restaurant marks the 10th restaurant location for Yellow Rocket Concepts.

One last note, I can say with honestly, Scott McGehee is a really nice guy. And he is generous. Extremely generous. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGehee vowed not to lay off any of his employees by working hard to maintain curb-side pickup at all restaurant locations. McGehee also has been providing meals almost daily to area healthcare workers.