On a recent trip to Washington, DC, see Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos, I did the tourist thing early Saturday morning before heading back to Texas. I went out at 7am to avoid the heat and the crowds.
I walked from the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial headed for the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool. There were a few joggers, a few Ron Paul supporters (interesting group of characters) and city workers. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial a small group of tourists were already starting to mill around. I noticed this black city worker mopping the steps, back and forth, back and forth and I knew right away I wanted to include him in the photograph.
When I got to the bottom of the steps the group of visitors were all over the steps and inside the memorial. The worker patiently continued his work, waiting when the people blocked his path.
Standing there with my Nikon D300, waiting for the moment I wanted to capture I was approached by, wait for it — a Canon shooter. He was carrying two cameras (a Rebel XT and a 5D). We had a brief discussion about the light and our shared hobby. Nice fella; other than the Canon part.
Just as we were parting ways I got this photograph. It’s the best of the three I took of this man maintaining the monument’s appearance. The fact that it is a black man working for the Federal Government at the Lincoln Memorial somehow struck a cord with me. I mean no offense to the man doing an honest job, the fact Lincoln’s eyes appear to be watching him, makes, to me anyway, this photograph sort of special.
Strobist shooting on location: Don't miss the targets of opportunity
Makeup by Marie-Térese MM#1317488
As a people/model photographer I spend time looking for locations with an interesting background, lighting or feel. Once I have the opportunity to shoot at the location I work through in my head where and how within the location I will setup or design the scene to get the image I want. A lot of it depends on the person’s looks, wants and vision of the session. I am always open to ideas and really enjoy the collaborative process when working with talented people or a least someone who knows what they want to portray in the portrait. Always with the goal of getting the shoe box picture.
There are basically three types of pictures; there are setup or designed shots, candid shots but many times a third type of ‘design’ comes into play for me and I see a ‘target of opportunity’ shot I hadn’t planned or noticed when I scouted the location. In the this image of model Lady Dori Belle, by the way if you get a chance to work with her – jump on it, she’s a class act. We were shooting in a large motorcycle warehouse as we were walking from one side of the warehouse to the other I noticed the light from the skylight.
I placed Susan into the shaft of sunlight screaming brightly through the roof onto the warehouse floor. I had a single Nikon SB-900 Speedlight on an 8′ Cheetah stand with 40″ Wescott white shoot-through umbrella. I used the sun to back light her by changing her position until I had the light where I wanted it and used the SB900 to fill the harsh shadow. An unplanned shot for sure, a target of opportunity you bet – but impossible to pass up when noticed.
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