A couple months ago I had a chance to shoot a small assignment for Uponor – a Finland-based manufacturer of residential and commercial HVAC components whose US headquarters is in Eagan, MN. Uponor’s in-house magazine caters to a global workforce, and the piece I photographed addressed the issues surrounding moving halfway around the world to take a position in another country. That’s my shot on the right: Ulf is an engineer from Sweden who has been living in the Twin Cities for the past couple years.

The hallway where we did the portrait fit the direction I had been given really well, I thought: clean & simple, good for the laying over of text. When I scouted it I envisioned a nice natural light shot, using the row of windows running the length of the hall. Of course it was raining buckets the day my assistant TJ and I went out for the shoot, but we found a very fortuitous overhang outside one of the windows that was the perfect size for a big strobe with softbox. So we moved along Plan B: bring the sun with you! And make sure you’ve got it well-wrapped in tall kitchen garbage bags, with a couple sandbags weighing down the light stand. While we futzed with lighting, Ulf kept us entertained with tales of cross-country RV trips exploring America with his extended Swedish family. (Turns out car problems in the Dakotas aren’t much fun, but make for good stories when you get home.)

Thanks loads to Sanoma Magazines Finland for the assignment! Hopefully we’ll get another chance to work together in 2010.