I have know Larry Bodine of Larry Bodine Conservations for a number of years. I met Larry while photographing antique furniture for a local dealer. Larry would clean each piece and make repairs as necessary before I photographed it. I had photographed at Larry’s shop before. The Dealer wanted me to photograph Larry and his two employees working on furniture only he wanted close up shots showing only hands using tools. I did grab a few shots for myself but my primary concern was getting the images my client needed. Once again this project was the catalyst to me taking the photos of Larry that I wanted to make. I went so far as to photograph him not in the workshop but in the attic instead.

 

My approach to the shot in the attic was more traditional than the first two shoots with a couple of twists. The main light on Larry was an overhead clamp light with a 100-watt bulb that was already in place. I just tilted up a bit to light his face. I liked the abrupt fall off of the light but the rest of the scene needed fill. I set up a Dyna Lite pack and single head in a three by four foot softbox. I covered the head with a Full CTO gel to match the color balance of the worklight and placed the light directly behind me for a soft on axis fill I new that the light source was large enough that even though I was standing directly in front of the softbox enough light would still fill in around my subject. I also opted for double diffusion by hanging a white, translucent, shower curtain in front of the soft box. I metered for the work light only and adjusted the power of the fill light by looking at the display on the camera while shot.  Larry was looking directly into the camera for most of the shots but I liked the one in which he was looking away, almost as if he was lost in thought.

 

Larry was happy to receive some new photos of himself as he is finally having a web site built to promote his business. He realizes that the younger generation is using the Internet to find the services they need.