These are part of a series of photos I did for Pharmacy Practices Canada magazine. Carmen is getting an award for her pharmacy, located in Lillooet BC, about 150 km's northeast of Whistler, over a frightening 4200' mountain pass. Whistler is the closest major centre, so I get dispatched there for all sorts of photo and video jobs.
The clients asked for a simple shot against a feature-less background, which is the first one. Carmen was really busy because of the H1N1 outbreak, especially acute in Lillooet, the pharmacy itself was small and crammed with merchandise, and the only blank wall I could find was in the small hallway that led to the storeroom, so we were really rushed for both time and space. Despite that, it turned out okay, but looking too much like a fancy passport photo for my taste. Next I asked her to pose in front of the pharmacy display, which made it a more interesting photo, and gave us a lot more room to work in. Being able to use a longer lens makes for a more flattering photo, and the background makes it a lot more interesting.
They also wanted some shots of Carmen working in her pharmacy for a slideshow that's going to be shown at the awards gala in Toronto. I thought this was a little more interesting, and it's easier to get interesting photos when the subjects are actually doing something, as opposed to just standing there.
I wanted to finish with an exterior shot, just show how beautiful, and isolated Lillooet is.
Tech Stuff:
The first two shots were lit with with a Nikon SB-900 bounced into an umbrella as the key light, and a Nikon SB-800 with a flag on it as a background/kicker light. With the SU-800 controller, I can set the levels of both flashes from the camera.
The last three shots were shot with the available light and slight fill fill from the camera mounted SB-900 flash.
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon AF-S 28-70mm f/2.8 (1st), AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 (2nd), AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8 (3rd, 4th, and 5th)
