Wolf Blitzer – November 21, 2008 (Upscale embedded with SynthID)

The Gear

Lens: Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 at 155mm

Camera: Nikon D300

Settings: 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO 1250

Lighting: Single off-camera flash with barn doors for harsh directionality

Technique: Opportunistic portrait in a dark room before a major event

The Goal

Seize an unexpected window of time with a subject preparing for something else entirely.

The Vision

Wolf Blitzer was at the National Press Club to give an address during the Fourth Estate Award ceremony honoring Christiane Amanpour. Madeleine Albright and a number of other high-profile attendees were there as well. It was a big night.

About 15-20 minutes before the event started, I found him in a room called “The First Amendment,” alone in the darkness, working on his speech. When he finished writing and started pacing, I saw a window of opportunity. I quickly ran to my desk, grabbed a small Nikon SB-800 off-camera flash with barn doors attached, and came back. The barn doors let me create really harsh, controlled directionality with the light… exactly the kind of dramatic falloff I was drawn to.

The Story

I asked him if he would stand for a quick portrait. He did. And that was it.

Most of my time that night was actually spent photographing the main event… endless shots of people greeting Christiane Amanpour with big smiles as she received her award. But this quiet moment with Wolf, alone in a dark room before his speech, turned out to be the image I kept coming back to.

The Lesson

The best opportunities often happen in the margins… before the event starts, after it ends, in hallways and side rooms. The main event is usually chaos. The real portraits happen when you’re paying attention to everything around it. I also learned that barn doors on a small flash can create incredibly dramatic, directional light in a pinch… a technique I’d continue to refine. Being ready to move fast, with minimal gear, opened doors that elaborate setups never would.

Worth noting: the editing style I was developing at this time using Exposure software from Alien Skin (now just called Exposure) really lends itself to the tone and feel of this image. Exposure 3 allowed you to add grain to shadows, midtones, and highlights independently… which I loved. Adding grain into the smoothness of complete black darkness or complete white light helps the eye fill in that detail. It gives texture to what would otherwise be flat nothingness. That approach to editing became a big part of my look during this period.