Mike Weber for Government Executive Magazine

Originally Published January 27, 2014

I was recently hired by Government Executive Magazine to photograph Mike Weber who is a Deputy Executive Director at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in Rockville, MD. After talking with the creative team at Government Executive, we agreed on the desired look and got to work.

Once getting signed in and through security, my assistant and good friend Rich Kessler and I were escorted through the building to look at a couple possible shooting locations. In the end, we decided on NRC’s main conference room. Once we got set up, Mr. Weber arrived and things got underway. I’m usually not the tallest guy in the room, and as you’ll see above, my Pelican 1650 case can be very helpful. Everything went great, and Mr. Weber was incredibly generous with his time. Once we wrapped up with the shoot however, I had one small surprise for him though.

After finishing up with the shoot, I asked him if he had time for just one more photo. Not really knowing what I was talking about, he curiously agreed. I put my Canon 5D Mark III back in my equipment case and got out my Polaroid 100 Automatic Land Camera. Our escorts and Mr. Weber all chuckled a bit when seeing the camera opened up, and probably wondered if I was really being serious. I connected the Polaroid 100 to my two Einstein E640’s with a sync cable, and it all worked together beautifully. The entire shoot went great, but seeing the Polaroid 100 in action was everyone’s highlight of the morning.

To give the creative team at Government Executive options, I was also sure to photograph Mr. Weber with a darkened background. The plain background gives editors additional options for layout purposes, which can be very helpful at times. In the end, they went with my favorite image from the shoot, and I’m thrilled with how everything came together.

If you’re interested in reading the full article, you can do so here at Government Executive Magazine.