Simon Ridgway Photography

I was commissioned to shoot an executive from MacDonald’s Restaurants at a branch in Cardiff. The client requested the shots to be against a plain dark background and they were to be used quite prominently in their staff magazine.

Knowing the branch, I knew the pictures would have to be shot indoors as there is no rear entrance and there’s nowhere nearby in the street that would have made a suitable backdrop.

The particular branch chosen was in the middle of Cardiff’s main shopping street, a 10 minute walk from the nearest multi-story car park so I had to cart all the necessary equipment through the street and through the busy restaurant to the only room available – the staff room out the back.

Now, the staff room wasn’t tiny but it definitely wasn’t a full size photographic studio. Oh, and it was full of chairs and tables and noticeboards and lockers, just like every other staff room in the world.

I set up a portable black cloth background and lit the picture with the key light in a medium sized umbrella softbox and a backlight in a small brolly. Both lights were small hotshoe flashes with Pocketwizard radio slaves attached.

So, with my back pressed up against one wall and the background against the opposite wall and the lights crammed into corners, I managed to shoot a variety of full length and closer portraits, both with jacket and without. My subject had to pretend to be talking to a person off-camera. This is not easy for someone not used to being photographed, but I think he pulls it off pretty well here!