Florida Governor Charlie Crist
© Scott Holstein/Rowland Publishing
When Rowland Publishing launched its newest title, 850 Business Magazine, a feature on Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, “The CEO of Florida,” was the cover story in the inaugural issue of the new magazine.
On the day of the shoot, I arrived at the governor’s office in the Capitol and waited to get set up. I had never been in the his office and never seen the layout nor the décor. I was not granted access to the office ahead of time to scout my location and set up, so I asked his assistant to draw me a map of the room to give me a head start on planning.
The writer was to do the interview at the same time as the photo shoot so we had to split our time. Due to Governor Crist’s hectic schedule (wildfires had recently broken out in the state), our time was cut from an hour to 30 minutes total.
When the governor was ready, the writer began the interview and I had 15 minutes to look around, plan my shots, haul in the equipment, and get set up while a second photographer covered the interview. I needed to get a cover shot and an inside shot.
I began with a curtained window for the backdrop (unfortunately, it was an interior wall so there was no sunlight coming through the window and backlighting the curtains). The governor finished the interview and came over just as I was finishing setting up. I directed him where to stand and took several frames. Problem was, I wasn’t feeling it. The curtains were rather bland as the backdrop, so I took it in another direction.
© Scott Holstein/Rowland Publishing
We moved to his desk and I quickly readjusted my lighting. I shot for several more minutes, got what I needed, and we wrapped.
In the end, I had him for less than 7 minutes. While I would have loved to have been able to spend more time on this shoot and to scout and set up beforehand, we worked with the limitations, got the governor out a few minutes ahead of schedule, and I walked away with images that met the magazine’s needs.
Setup info:
Both shots of Governor Charlie Crist were lit with a Profoto 7b power pack and a Profoto 2×2’ softbox at camera left, close to and slightly above the subject.