A recent magazine assignment had me headed to the Morgan Stanley offices to photograph one of their gold traders. After taking the standard and expected portraits in the office, I finished what the job required. But I wasn't done yet. I wanted something more, something better. You see, I like giving clients more than what they expect and, selfishly, I like to do more for myself, too.
In all honesty, it starts in advance. I knew I wanted something more before I arrived on location; covering the basics was simply obligatory and my fail-safe. Knowing the area helps and I had this shot in mind as the top of the steps in Times Square would give me a good background. The next trick was to get the subject to give me the time I needed; that's where people skills are so important. Traders are very busy people and I was asking her to leave her office in the middle of the day; I explained my idea and enrolled her in helping me do more than a basic portrait. My excitement for what was possible got her excited and we grabbed the next elevator to the lobby. The big red staircase in Times Square is only steps from the office and after nicely asking some tourists to move, we did the shot and got her back to work.
The lighting was a simple off camera strobe with a small diffuser balanced to the daylight in order to clean up the shadows on her face. Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 zoom at 43mm, 1/40th sec at f9, ISO 160.