Project 52 ... 13

Meet Donald. A pillar of the community.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, SB 800, softbox

This shot was taken one evening in March, when the weather was kind to us; it was warmer than expected. I say pillar of the community because Donald has given a lot of his time to being a school governor and has recently been recognised for it. He gives this time and expertise selflessly; a lesson to us all. This is a relaxed picture of Donald, being himself, in his own environment. He can also be seen here, in a more formal portrait.

The shot was very simply lit with an SB 800 in a softbox to camera right at about 30 degrees to Donald and slightly higher than him. I wanted to give the effect of ambient light coming through the French doors of an evening. I dropped the exposure on the ambient, set the camera at about 1/250th and tweaked the aperture until I got the shot I was looking for.

More formal portraits ...

The School Governor seems to be a particularly British institution. And long may it continue to be one. It is a way of giving something back to the school and through it to the greater community in the form of time and expertise. Completely voluntary, these people provide support and help to the Head Teacher and all the Teachers of our schools to grow and develop the school, which ultimately comes down to a better education for our children.

I was recently asked to take a set of portraits of the School Governors of St Joseph's RC School in Bracknell.

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D200, SB 800 in softbox camera left, Vivitar 285 gridspot to background

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I went into the hall where the meeting was to take place beforehand and set up the lights and took a few test shots. I tweaked the exposure until I got the look I wanted and then it was a matter of sitting all the Governors down in the strategically placed chair, (which was moved again and again) and taking the shot.

The camera was in manual mode, at 1/250th; I cannot remember what the f-stop was. The flash guns were on 1/4 and 1/2 power to give a faster recycling time, as I knew I would have to get the job done quickly.

I want to say thanks to Adele, John and Donald for allowing me to post their pictures and thanks to all the other Governors for having their photographs taken.