A LITTLE ABOUT THE SHOTS:

Editorial

1 Your typical day for an editorial photographer. Take one office, a roll of seamless, a few hundred pounds of artificial light and 90 minutes later: voila, you have built a functioning photo studio. The fun begins when the subject is someone like one of Canada's most (in)famous cabinet ministers, like Harper Conservative's Tony Clement. In the allowed time of five minutes, I ran him through a wide range of emotions, from laughing (as seen on the cover of CIO magazine) to a more expected stern look of the man tasked to carve billions from the federal budget. On a job like this, I spent more time researching my subject than shooting him. A few well-researched and humorous questions, and a couple deeper ones, were the tools used to cajole real emotion from the man. Nikon D3, 35mm lens for main shot and 50mm for cover. Toplighting via a Photek Illuminata and Dynalite 4040 head. Small gridded strip lights were places just outside the black seamless background. And an Orbis ring light, powered by a CTB gelled Nikon SB800, lit the background.

2 Good photography is often a group effort. For my 2005 Christmas promo, it took one good natured elf, Santa Bernie J. Sharpe and a brilliant, highly talented and non-too squeemish make-up artist Tasleema Nigh to pull together my goofy idea. No Saints were harmed in the making of this image. Two lights and a bit of photoshop completed the effort.

6 The Financial Times editor called and asked me to illustrate Laura Fairweather's first person story about the 10th anniversary of the day her father went missing while sailing. I scouted a few lakefront locations that would provide a suitable background and met Laura at 7 p.m. the next day. The evening was beautiful, a gentle breeze was blowing. I shot some available light, then convinced a passerby to hold a Manfrotto monopod with SB 800, litetite and shoot thru umbrella over Laura. A full CTO cooled the background a little. Nikon D3, 1/60 @ f 4.5 and 500 ISO, 17-35 Nikkor at 26mm.

8 Portrait of Tim Green, of Clublink, which operates many of the best golf courses around Toronto. Dynalite Uni 400 in a Dynalite dish and powered with a Tronix Explorer high to the right. Nikon's amazing little SB-800 speedlight to the left, to add some dimension. And a some gorgeous morning sun as backlight. Nikon D3, 1/125 @ f/16 with a 17-35 Nikkor at 32 mm.

9 Canadian Lawyer magazine was doing a Green issue and asked me to shoot the cover, two Toronto lawyers who operated the first environmental law practice in Canada. I rented a Profoto 7B and beauty dish, and paired it with my Dynalite Uni400. For the shot on the left, which ran as cover, I had the 7B to the right of the camera, with the head pointing at the back scooter (a technique called feathering the light) while my Dynalite provided rim light from the back left. For the two page spread, the Uni400 is the ball of light just behind the blue scooter and the 7B is hitting from the right.

10 Great locations make life easier. I spent the morning at Emedia's massive Guelph offices - located in an old brewery warehouse. Three shots, three nice locations - and I got to ride a Segway. Photek 52 inch Octoboxes and strip lights for rim, balanced for ambient where necessary.

12 Damien is a speed skater in Yellowknife, and the son of a friend. I noticed this beautiful skating rink north of town, off the Dettah Ice Road that ran from about a kilometer off shore, and knew it would make a great place to shoot a portrait. We waited until the sun and thermometer were dropping, then set up the lights. The action shot was done with SB800s to the front and rear of Damien. The portrait was actually shot after the action shots using the silky soft twilight and my Nikon D3's impressive high ISO capabilities. 85mm lens 640 ISO and f1.8 at 1/100.

13 When the Medical Post called to ask me to shoot a portrait of this opthalmogists I wanted to do something a little different. Inspiration came from a shot I recalled seeing by Magnum's Larry Towell. I clamped an old pair of my glasses to a light stand using a Manfrotto Super Clamp, placed a 60 inch umbrella 90 degrees from the subject and a fluroscent-lit eye chart just to the doctor's left side. It looks nothing like the photo that inspired it – but this shot wouldn't exist if I hadn't taken an afternoon off to wander some galleries, and meet one of my idols as he set up a show at Stephen Bulger Gallery.

14 When Golf Canada wanted me to illustrate writer IJ Schecter's wry article on keeping your emotions in check, my mind was full of ideas. Fortunatelty, IJ helped me pull them all off. The shot on the right was taken within an hour of sunrise, on a slightly overcast day, using becklight, a reflector and Nikkon's 12-24 lens. Crazy wide. While IJ pulled on a wet suit for the pond shot, the clouds rolled on, so my assistant and I set up a couple lights to give the same feeling as before. A Dyna-lite Uni400 in a dish was to the left and a Nikon SB-800 to the back right, both firing off a radio slave. I stood on a ladder with my 17-35, praying I wouldn't join IJ in the boggy drink.

Corporate

5 Portrait of construction engineer Brent Julian (right) at a garbage dump. Corporate photography is a glamorous profession. A big Photek Sunbuster kept the somewhat harsh 9:30 a.m. light off the subject and a battery powered Dyna-lite Uni-400 bounced in some soft fill. The Sunbuster is like a patio umbrella, but with the same white fabric of a softbox. The client wanted the background soft, so I zoomed my Nikkor 80-200 to its longest. Shot on a D2X. In an ideal world, portraits are shot at the magic hours just after sunrise and before sunset. With corporate photography, you have to be able to create the magic light at any time of day. The shot on the right was available light, with a hidden SB800 on a short stand, bouncing into the blueprint.

6 When McCain Food called and asked me to shoot a brochure for them, I knew it would be a fun one. Two days of shooting in a beautiful studio, and days of Photoshop. But I was happy with the results and thankful for having the help of immensely talented food and prop stylist Christina Yan.

7 I photographed this Hamilton family doctor and young patient as part of an annual report for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. A Photek Illuminata was high behind me, aimed slightly towards the ceiling and an SB 800 in a strip light came in from the back left. D3 and trusty 17-35 lens. My assistant and I moved the exam table from the wall, to improve the composition, then I waited for a moment.

9 Another day, another photography marathon. Pharmamedica opened the doors of its new Mississauga lab to me, to shoot some images for the company's website. I balanced the boring available fluroscent light with strobe to give the images a little more punch. D2X.

10 Sometimes the most important thing to bring to an industrial job is comfortable, and CSA-approved, footwear. We arrived at this Windsor factory at 7:30 a.m., and by the time we packed up to leave we had walked miles and shot in six areas (from a CEO portrait in the boardroom, to executives in offices, grazed the factory ceiling on a cherry picker and walked the length of two busy plants.

11 One day. Five locations. Eight hours of shooting. My assistant and I spent a day photographing the four main programs at Mohawk McMaster's Health Sciences school, in Hamilton.

12 Sometimes the best light isn't man made. For this incredibly rushed portrait, (left) I had the Mohawk College student in shade, with a little sunlight coming from behind. My assistant stood with a large flexfill and bounced some soft fill light onto my subject's face. The shot in the lab was lit in about four minutes, with a SB-800-powered strip light on one side and another speedlight into a shoot-thru reflector.

TOOLS In my career, have used almost every brand of camera and strobe. During the last few years, I've managed to pull together a kit that is fairly small and dependable: perfect for my style of location photography, and easy on my back. On a usual editorial or corporate assignment, I'll bring:

• Nikon kit (D3, D2X, 35, 50 and 85 mm primes and 17-35, 35-70 and 80-200 2.8 zooms and four SB800s in a Think Tank Airport Acceleration bag.

• An Orbis ring light: a inexpensive and versatile plastic contraption that is powered by a speedlight. I use this more for rim and background lighting than for its intended purpose as a hard on-axis light. It is much quicker to put up than a strip light or softbox, and produces really nice light.

• Dyna-lite Uni-400 monohead and accessories in a 1520 Pelican (often my only lighting for lower budget editorial jobs.)

• two Dyna-lite 500 w/s packs and one 4040 and one 2040 head in a bright orange Pelican 1550 EMS case. These cases are made for paramedics - bright orange and have amazing organizers. • two Dyna-lite 1000 w/s packs, two 2040 heads and an NE-2 in a Pelican 1550.

• Tronix explorer battery, to power the Uni-400. Cheaper than a Dyna-lite Jackrabbit battery, gives 400 w/s of power with a four second recycle at full power. I used it at dawn, on a brisk November morning, and after 200 flashes, it still had a lot of juice left. And at 15 lbs, I always attach it to the stand with a Superclamp, for extra ballast.

• Dyna-lite 18 inch beauty dish (provides nice light and is especially great outside when the wind is blowing)

•a big stand bag with three big Manfrotto stands, two crossbars, two Photek Illuminata 52 inch softboxes and a 60 inch umbrella

• a Calumet case(that measures 2 inches less than average doors) containing smaller stands, a variety of light modifiers, including two medium umbrellas, two small gridded strip lights, two Calumet 42x78 double-sided (black and white) plasticized fabric panels used for flagging or fill light, and a silk (a 10x8 sheet of white fabric I bought on sale at a fabric store for under $20), AC extensions;

• a Lowepro bag bursting with Manfrotto grip equipment including super clamps, light tite, grip heads and A-clamps • Pelican case holding an Apple MacBookPro (software including Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5) and two back-up hard drives.

• a couple sand bags And an aluminum ladder. Hey, I'm 5foot6. The ladder gets more use than most of my gear.

It all fits easily in the back of my station wagon and on two carts for running from parking lot to location. WHY THESE BRANDS? CAMERA: The Nikon D3 puts out a file that continually pleases art directors, it writes to card blisteringly fast and the battery lasts for days. The D2X is no slouch and its 1.5x magnificatiion factor gives my long lens a little more reach. Nikon's lenses are expensive, but worth the price. My favorite lenses are fast primes, a 35 mm f2 and super-sharp and light 85mm f 1.8 for tighter or more formal portraits. The zooms are heavier, but crazy sharp.

I've used Canon, and it is great too. I just prefer Nikon's ergonomics and glass. STROBES For my purposes, there is nothing like a Dyna-lite, for big, reliable power in a tiny package.

The Uni-400 is lighter than a Profoto Acute head. The 2040 heads are like bullet-proof steel cans that throw really even light. The 4040 head's light quality rivals the legendary sweet light of a Profoto head. Dyna-lite packs sport the quickest recycle I've seen, never blows fuses, and they don't make Dave Morris, my strobe repair guy, a whole lot of money. Nikon's SB800 system is superb (once you've read and understood the novel-length manual) I've been using a MicroSync radio slaves for a couple years. Smallest transmitter in the world. Pretty powerful, goes on and off automatically and uses next to no battery power. And Manfrotto stands and grip equipment. Light, but built to last.

FINAL TIPS:

1) When you are shooting a portrait, the tools matter much less than your interaction with your subject. If you want to photograph someone who looks relaxed, you have to be relaxed. Talk to the person and try to make the process enjoyable. Be familiar with the person, do some research so you have an idea what to talk about. Also, become so familiar with your equipment that you can put most of your attention on your subject.

2) Play the angles. 99% of amateur photography is taken at eye-level. Probably 9% of my work is shot at eye level. Find an angle of view that plays to the psychology of the viewer. If you shoot from a low angle, it gives the subject an illusion of power. It also makes the sky more of an element in the shot. Look down on someone, and psychologically, you are looking down on them. You are also making the ground a dominant element in the photograph. Honestly, I'd sooner leave the lights at home than my stepladder.

3) Foreground. Middle ground. Background. Your photograph has these elements, and all can add or detract from the portrait. Pay attention to them all. I usually try to keep the background clean or I'll use interesting elements in the background to frame the subject.

4) Break rules. They say a short telephoto lens is a portrait lens and it is if you are shooting straight executive portraits (or beauty shots or Sear's portraits). The shots you just looked at were made with everything from a 17 to a 200 mm lens. Most were shot with a moderately wide lens. I find a focal length equivalent to 35 mm on 35 mm film to be perfect for editorial portraits.

5) Go to galleries. Read magazines. Check out other photographer's websites: especially folks whose style is different from yours. Play. And keep it fun.

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