The day after my return from a photo trip in Alaska’s arctic, I quickly switched gears from grizzly bears and caribou photography for a scheduled commercial assignment job for a local utilities company in Fairbanks (Friday June 25). Portraiture was the primary focus, which presented employees doing their work in a respective context to the utilities industry. It is remarkable how the influence of digital photography has changed my approach to this type of photography. Productivity has taken a huge leap, with the ability to use high ISO and wireless off-camera triggered flash. My assistant Andrew Johnson and I generally used two flashes, one for the main subject with a small soft box and another usually for some degree of backlight, using either bounce, or direct (snooted) flash. We used the relatively new wireless pocket wizard flash triggering units, along with Canon 580 ex flashes.
It is also worthy to note that while I don’t do a large amount of commercial photography anymore, it has taught me a great deal about lighting, which is really at the root of successful photography. In commercial work, we create most of the light ourselves, and tasked with this responsibility prompts a good understanding of light and shadow. I think my commercial and assignment work has augmented my forays of ambient and natural light photography in nature. Below are some portrait samples of the many different scenes.
