Recently I did a corporate shoot for Business First Magazine. The brief was to get a series of portraits of the the CEO of an independent investment advisory business.
Some of the portraits were to be taken in the office to show the CEO in his working environment. I was fortunate that the office was in Martin Place so I could capture one of the amazing art deco buildings in the background. Therefore I set the aperture to F4.0 to allow the background to be out of focus. As this was a large aperture it gave a shallow depth of field. Even though I had captured a great variety of images inside the office, I felt that there was something lacking. If you take the subject out of their working environment you can discover new photographic opportunities which to me offer a more editorial/lifestyle feel to the portraits. The fact that Martin Place was outside the entrance proved to be a great asset. We walked towards the GPO Building and I found the perfect location. There was certainly an element of luck involved, no people in the background for a few seconds. The impressive pillars of this heritage listed building added to the overall framing and composition of the portraits.
Never settle for one location if you have the opportunity to explore others.
