Simplicity is nice. One light is nice. One subject is nice. The entirety of this photograph says look at the subject, study his eyes, facial expression, where his hands are, what he’s wearing, and other things about him. Nothing more needs to be in this shot. Another shot might include quite a bit, but this one doesn’t. We’re relying on emotional interpretation for this image. We’re relying on simplicity. Simple lighting, simple background. Yet, the subject is not all that simple.

Todd Chambers is a professor in the college that I teach. Todd actually gave me my first job after my master’s as a photography instructor, a place I still hold while working toward a Ph.D. in mass communications and media sociology. I’m blessed to know quite a few people I can say are genuinely good people, and Todd is one of them. Todd is an outstanding teacher, researcher, husband, father, and believer (the last three I’m sure he would no doubt note as the most important). Todd is also a cancer survivor, and he is a huge advocate and mission representative of the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life. In 2008, he was selected as an ACS Hero of Hope. His story of survival has been shared numerous times across the region, state and nation. An inspiration to say the least, this year, Todd was given his five years clear – a long ways away from where he was when he was diagnosed.

This was a quick shot. I actually had just finished one shoot and was packing up when I thought I would go ahead a grab this shot. Sometimes, images are envisioned long before they are taken, and this was such a time. Todd always wears the two bracelets you see on his left wrist, and I wanted a shot that featured those as a secondary feature to his facial features. I always imagined a dark environment engulfing him in a shot where he was lit very cleanly, very simply. There was nothing to getting the light right for the shot (by now, you’ve probably recognized that the complication of the light is not key to any of my images, it’s how that light tangibly makes sense of the subject). The Elinchrom Qaudra set at the absolute lowest power it could punch through a Rotalux softbox placed slightly behind the subject’s right side (camera left). This causes the nose shadow to drastically dip into the dark tones, and the camera right shadow side to creep in to the background. The key here is to place the subject far enough away from the black (I’ve used dark browns and blues as well to get this type of shot) that the light does not bleed over on to the background, creating a more grayish environment. Shoot at the fastest shutter speed the sync will allow, and you will knock out the ambient while still exposing for the light.

The light does nothing but provide depth across the face and contrast between light and extreme dark, possibly the two most important features of the shot: light and dark. Put yourself in what is and what may have been his shoes not too long ago. That in itself is the simplistic determination of what the light is like in the shot. This wasn’t a shot deeply involved with developmental thought, it was one that subconsciously arrived, but probably from some sort of influence from his story. Nevertheless, the shot itself can BE deeply involved with interpretive thought with just a few details. I show my students an American Masters documentary on Richard Avedon each year, and during a gallery presentation of his work, voiceovers continually try to interpret the simple images he created mid-career.

The truth and fallacy in which images like this can be interpreted are beautiful components of what we do as image makers.

You can catch up with Todd on Twitter: @tchambersttu

Some great things coming down the pipe here, and I’ll do my best to keep it posted! More to come…