While walking through the halls of Northeastern University, Mark and I were approached about using his image for the face of the Multimedia Studies Master's Degree program. There was no budget really. They were enthusiastic, so after a moment or two of thought I suggested that we do the shooting. This was great for them, it saved them lining up an out-of-state photographer, and fun for us (NU is in Massachusetts and we are in Rhode Island). The funny thing is that the people we know at NU know us for our design and branding work and not our photography.

So, on a cold cold January afternoon I called up a friend and 5 of us set out to get this shot for their advertising. They requested a couple of wardrobe changes and a dynamic shot. We didn't have the time to get in front of clients and have Mark in action and we had no budget for fancy setups, so we went out real simple with a couple of Nikon SB-800s, a couple of stands, a tripod, and the Fujifilm S5 Pro.

I had an image in my head of shooting a lot exposure in front of rush-hour traffic to get some flowing color in the background. We would pop a strobe to get Mark frozen in the image and well exposed. But, before we did that we looked for an idilic park location. Unfortunately, within minutes of parking and walking outside we were all freezing cold.

So, the experience ended up being more of an endurance contest than a happy-go-lucky shoot. We did a series of shots on a busy street corner, were hassled by confused drunks, and avoided being run over by rushing commuters. It was an interesting experience. Shooting 105mm (roughly 160mm digital equivalent), going for a 3/4 shot of Mark turned out to be difficult just due to space and jitter with low light. Still, we got a couple of shots. Mostly, we froze until we escaped into the warmth of Starbucks to recoup.

We went inside and shot a few images to close out the night.

When I reviewed the captures I was disappointed, I had been thoroughly thwarted by the cold. I didn't get the angles, didn't get the ISO I wanted, and just wasn't enchanted by the light. I think I was most disappointed by the light. Mark was also doing his best to imitate Rudolph with his cherry red nose.

So, we gave it another go on a lazy afternoon a week or so later. I set up inside, used 2 SB-800's again, but this time one was shot into a modifier and the other was used on the background. I used some white cards to bounce the fill and we were moving along. Mark is taller than I am, so I used a stool to give me some extra height for close-ups. It was cold, but this time we had a heater to use.

This time I was able to use a much lower ISO, get some sculpting going with the light, and capture the Mark in front of some images of our work. At first the light wasn't close enough, but as we moved it closer it gave more "glow." I read recently about the concept that any source of light can be a soft source - it is a matter of size and relative distance to the subject.

We got a series of shots, most were fairly close in. I even had Mark hold a white card to bounce some light onto his face, since I didn't have an extra hand.

I don't know when the ads are going to run, but I believe it is this next week in the Dig, and Boston / Providence Phoenix(s). I just received advance copies of the ads, so when they run I'll post 'em here.