We had several shoots over the past week and my favorite was a corporate lifestyle assignment for SSI Magazine featuring Convergint Technologies, a Chicago-based security firm that designs, installs, and services life safety systems for commercial properties. The plan was to do a cover photo for the magazine’s upcoming issue of the three top executives as well as several interior shots that featured day-in-the-life on-location portraits and lifestyle images featuring the employees doing what they do best.
I love assignments like this because every scenario is very different, our timeline for this assignment required us to move quickly and every scenario we were working in, from the outdoor shot to the warehouse, required us to play around with the lighting quite a bit which for me with the time constraint is a fun challenge.
There was an opportunity to use just about every light in our arsenal along with each modifier and a variety of lenses, including the 70-200mm which I love for the compression effect, and the 85mm prime which when shooting wide open produces a beautifully soft background.
Even better, the executives and staff at Convergint were a pleasure to work with. Gotta love people with a great sense of humor who decorate their office with silkscreens of the characters from Caddy Shack and whose corporate mascot is Bill Murray’s nemesis in the movie. As a bonus maybe as much for me as for them, they asked us to incorporate their life-size stuffed gopher in the shots which we did happily.
It’s a beautiful thing when everything goes smoothly and we have the chance to work with incredibly fun people who are also fantastic collaborators. A big shout out to Marie and Tony who wrangled staff members, brought us lunch even though we were prepared to work right through, and kept us smiling with plenty of humor and a few quotable moments.
