Denny Henry

Last week I shot a portrait of the director of the Corcoran's library, Mario Ascencio.  I arrived after the library was closed for the day, so that we could use the stacks for the backdrop.  The lighting was a simple two light setup.  In the top photo there is a softbox above the camera, and a SB-800 clamped to the shelves above and behind Mario.  I also put a reflector below the camera to soften the shadows. 

More images after the jump

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In my ongoing assignment to make portraits of students and faculty at the Corcoran, I've tried to make at least one portrait of each person that reflects their field of study or interests.  The portrait below is of Brittany, a recent graduate from the Interior Design masters program.  Brittany was very helpful in finding a location that would fit well for her portrait.  After letting her know what I had in mind for the portrait, she suggested a residence for which she had recently created some work.  I had previously met the owner at a few Corcoran events, and he was gracious enough to let us use his beautiful house as a backdrop. 

Because we were shooting in a person's home, I kept the setup minimal.  I didn't want to be running cables everywhere, and have lighstands littering the living room.  I used single battery powered monolight in a medium softbox.  

Although The Corcoran is a rather large building, I am often limited on interior locations that I can use for portraits.  All the great artwork and open areas always make the exhibition spaces the top of my list for portrait locations, and I almost never get to use them.  There are a variety of reasons why I'm never allowed to set up portraits in the gallery space.  I'm sure disrupting visitors, and setting up studio strobes next to priceless works of art are two big reasons right at the top of the list.  The upside to this limitation is that I have been forced to find places that I normally wouldn't use for portraits. 

The below picture was shot outside the director's office on the first floor of The Corcoran.  Half the room is used as an office, while the rest is filled with books from the director Paul Greenhalgh's personal collection.  If I had not been forced to find an un-occupied space, I probably would have completely overlooked this room.  Not because I dislike the room, but because it is simply a place I don't often have a reason to go. 

 This spring I've been shooting portraits of the department chairs at the Corcoran College of Art + Design.  I began shooting back in Febraury with Portraits of Susan Sterner and Kerry McAleer-Keeler with the hopes of getting images of each chair before the start of next school year. 

Last week I photographed Andy Grundberg, the Chair of Photography and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies.  Besides his work at the Corcoran, Andy is most known for his writing and criticism about photography. 

Andy Grundberg

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At the end of last year I purchased a Bowens monolight as a backup to my regular Speedotron lighting setup.  I bought the Bowens light mainly in case my Speedotron pack died when I needed it for a shoot.

I put the kit together so that the monolight and all its accessories fit compactly in a small Tenba case, that I can keep stashed in the trunk of my car, or carry with one hand.  This kit has also turned out to be a great location lighting kit on it's own. I've used the setup a number of times now and it's proven itself quite useful. 

The image below was shot in a room on the highest floor of The Corcoran, and has skylights lining one side.  I positioned the light in a medium softbox so that it added additional light coming from the same directon as the window light.  I set the monolight on it's lowest power, to make the subject about one stop brighter than the background.   This way the light still looks natural, but the subject pops from the background.

Location Portrait of Dr. Pamela Lawton at The Corcoran College of Art and Design