Denise Turner Roth for Government Executive Magazine

I really love shooting for Government Executive Magazine.  It’s always a fun collaboration of ideas when speaking with Katie about upcoming assignments.  Last month, she got in touch about photographing Denise Turner Roth who is the Acting Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in DC.  It wouldn’t be my first time visiting GSA for a portrait assignment.  Back in February, I photographed Phaedra Chrousos at GSA for Government Executive Magazine.

As much as I love the portraits and location where I photographed Phaedra, I obviously wanted to do something different when photographing Denise.  Katie and I were liking the idea of photographing Denise with strong lines in the portrait.  When my assistant, Cory Brodzinski, and I arrived at GSA, we were greeted by GSA press secretary Kamara Jones who would show us location options.  We eventually came to the ground level overlooked by the walkway where I photographed Phaedra.  It was perfect for what Katie and I were envisioning with large metal pillars that were constructed like puzzle pieces.  We had found the strong lines we were looking for.

After getting the lighting dialed in, Denise arrived and welcomed both Cory and I to GSA.  She seemed excited about being photographed, which always makes things more enjoyable.  We got right to work since our time was slightly limited, and I always do my best to respect my subjects’ schedules.  We shot for a bit around the large pillars, which I love how the light reflected from the surfaces.  We eventually moved to a set of benches nearby for a second look.  I wanted to get a higher viewpoint so that I could get more lines out of all the benches placed there together.  Since I’m not the tallest guy in the world, I jumped up on my Pelican Case, snapped a few shots, and wrapped up the shoot.

Big thanks to Cory for coming out to assist with this assignment and to Kamara for snapping the BTS pic below!