Day 359

359/365, a photo by Aaron LaRue on Flickr.

This is Stephen. 
 
I met Stephen shortly after meeting Jordan, way back in the day when we called him Petrie. Stephen likes a few things above all else: sports and fashion. He's always put together, his collection of watches alone is worth about the same as my camera kit. And when him and Alex get together, they could give any sports announcing team a run for their money. It's crazy to me the kinds of statistics Stephen can pull out, it makes me feel a touch better when he beats me in fantasy football every year. 


I was going to go with something flashier for Stephen. We had this triptych planned out, and I had already shot two of the three pictures before we took this portrait. But when I saw this arm chair, lamp and little angel sculpture, I couldn't help myself and I called an audible. I think this is one of the few portraits I've taken where I captured a lot of myself while trying to get Stephen. He's at a crossroads in a lot of ways and so am I, so much so that just sitting alone and thinking can be a scary endeavor. The flashy portrait quickly turned into something quiet and stoic. 


As far as lighting goes, there was an SB-24 into an umbrella camera left, keying Stephen from the front. There's also a 430ex II with a dome diffuser coming from behind him, bringing up his shadowed side. The only thing I would have changed as far as lighting goes is the lamp. It was on, but the flashes (even though they were dialed down) were overpowering it. If I had a brighter bulb it would have made the light a bit more interesting, but otherwise I'm stoked on this one.