We shot Rick Hansen for the cover of IMPACT MAGAZINE http://impactmagazine.ca/ in November of 2011 at The Rick Hansen Foundation office located adjacent to the BCIT AerospaceTechnology Campus in Richmond.

Rick is one of the most sincere and genuine subjects I had the pleasure of photographing in my editorial career as a professional photographer!

This was a shoot I did of the sensational latina singer, Deborah Ledon, www.deborahledon.com

I shot her June 7^th with some incredibly talented people, Jana Ridel (stylist), and Alla Cristina www.elementsminerals.com (makeup and hair). Deborah needed an update to her promotional images for her upcoming CD. She wanted something dramatic, on-stage, so we were lucky to have been able to use the Metro Theatre in south Vancouver as a location. Being a Vancouver photographer for over 15 years, I have driven by this venue many time before, but have never ventured inside. The stage already had a show all set up , so I had to underexpose the background by almost 4 stops in order to avoid seeing any of the props and furniture! Wouldn’t want to make it look like she is singing in someone’s living room in England of course!

Emma Tulp is a dancer on Carnival Cruise lines who needed some images for her press kit. The shoot was intended to showcase her dance talent and capture the essence of Emma. She wasn’t really interested in working in the studio, opting for a more edgy, editorial feel to her images. We decided to shoot on location at the train tracks nearby my studio in East Vancouver. This is a very popular location for many Vancouver portrait and fashion photographers covering artist promo for clients requiring such a background.

She wanted something rather moody, evoking some drama with her dance photos. Therefore, I thought that “low-key” lighting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-key_lighting was the best solution.

When shooting a low key portrait you have to consider your light output to ensure the model does not fade into the background. If you use only one light source, and the background is close to black, you risk losing the subject. This was shot around 8pm, (quickly loosing daylight – by the minute! ) at 15th of a second, with an 80-200mm lens at ISO 400 F5.6- We set up two lights – one with a gridded beauty dish to light up Emma’s face, and second to light her back and lower leg – ensuring that separation I mentioned. FYI – this was shot utilizing a tripod.

One more light to possibly light up the fore ground tracks would have been ideal in hindsight, but I feel like we hit the mark with a strong editorial portrait for Emma.

Really glad I had 2 assistants on this shoot- Kevyn Thompson and Jason Weissmahr – Thanks to them we got the shots even with the ambient light fading so quickly!

Every photographer who has ever shot a media figure ( or especially any celebrity), certainly knows the challenges of how much available time they realistically have with the subject. Typically for editorial features, we are lucky to have 10 to 15 minutes of shooting time! This was certainly the case for sports broadcaster David Pratt. We photographed him for Team 1040 AM one afternoon for HUSH magazine inside the Vancouver broadcast studio on 2nd  avenue.

Since we would only be able to photograph him between 3 minute commercial breaks, I had to setup our lights, and already compose the final image before he actually sat down with us. Ideally, I would like to spend 30 minutes with him, and shoot a variety of poses from different vantage points, but this was not realistic for an editorial photo shoot with such time contraints.

For the final image, I didn’t want the background to have any distracting objects, as I only wanted to focus on David. Therefore, I underexposed the background by probably two stops. I set up a red gelled light to hit against his microphone, as well as a snooted strobe as a hair light falling also onto his shoulder. I did this in order to separate his black shirt and the darker background inside the studio. If there was no rim light on David, he would have turned into a ‘floating head’.

I finished the light setup with a gridded beauty dish slightly above his face. I literally had 3 minutes to sit him down, and fire off a few images, being cognizant to display the Team 1040 logo on his shirt. The reality of editorial portraiture, especially in  situations like this, is the actual photography takes only a few minutes. The real work is the hour prior with the light setup. Always arrive early on location in order to offset any logistical challenges!

http://www.hushmagazine.ca/hush-magazine-view-article/love+him+or+hate+him/67/6