This was a pretty straightforward assignment: get a photo for a profile of a guy who runs a local chain of vintage/resale clothing stores. Now as with all assignments, you never know what you will have to deal with in terms of location conditions and most importantly the mood and personality of the subject. See my prior posting about photographing a certain coach for how bad it can get.
Anyhoo I got there and found that the subject Todd was a nice guy with a good sense of humor. He said that many years ago when he opened his first store he was painting a wall when the photographer arrived to do photos for an article. Todd thought it was perfect to have a shot of him holding the dripping paintbrush with all their clothes in the background. The photographer was insulted and not only refused to shoot that but huffed out of the store without taking a single frame. What?!? That would have been cool and he really missed out on a neat-o pic. Eh, his loss.
Anyway that story told me that I could honestly have some fun with Todd and that he is just as kooky as his stores are. (Love it!) So fast forward a few minutes and I get this shot of him coming out of the dressing room with some of their offbeat attire. Now what makes this photo cool is his chihuahua Vito in the corner. That cute little bugger was scampering about and just happened to be there when Todd made that face for me. If you put your thumb over Vito it’s not quite the same, ya know?
Technicals: Nikon D200, Nikon AF14mm f/2.8 @ f/8 1/30th sec ISO 250. Daylight balance. Pocket wizard triggering an SB-800 into a 43inch shoot through umbrella at camera left set to one stop over ambient and another SB-800 with a ZootSnoot set to on two stops over ambient for some cross lighting.
So I dig it. Not exactly a straight portrait and that the way uh-huh-uh-huh I like it. Thanks Vito!