Retired Fire Lieutenant

Stephen Green called me about a portrait photo session. He said he was retiring from the San Francisco Fire Department and wanted to get a photo of himself. Having grown up in San Francisco, and having a great respect for those who risk their lives for others every day, I looked forward to the session, which we did in his Millbrae home.

He had a couple ideas about what he wanted: Some straight-forward, fairly simple portraits. I had a few ideas of my own, too.

As we shot the first round of photos, Stephen was a great subject – at ease in front of the camera, and patient with my fine-tuning of the lights and his poses. He had an easy, natural smile that he produced on request.

When we finished the shots he wanted with the neutral backdrop, (things had gone very smoothly,) I asked if I could have a little more of his time to try something different. He was open for it and I set up this backdrop and adjusted the lights for a more dramatic look. I’ve used this backdrop a couple times for portraits but it seemed like a natural for a portrait of a fire fighter – with the mood of fire and smoke.

We ended up shooting another round of photos – spending more time than we originally anticipated. He even put his “turnouts” on for a few shots. I was very pleased with the end results –as was he and his wife.