Yeah, yeah, I have lots of lights… an ample supply of strobes, including a ring flash, and three speed lights. Use them, love them… but sometimes, that isn’t the look you’re looking for. That was my problem to solve when I had the chance to shoot some headshots of an actor. I kept thinking, “Where can I shoot Ron that I haven’t shot before?”

I was pondering this question while on a bicycle ride. I have a sweet little 12.5 mile route that I like to do… it runs along part of the Orange Line busway in L.A. As I was heading under the 405, I saw it. Under the overpass! That’s it! I can shoot there. There’s a lot of filtered light there.

Later that same afternoon, I picked up Ron, a flinty Clint Eastwood type if ever there was one. Once near the overpass, I dropped off him and my assistant and a boatload of equipment, parked along the street, and went back to shoot. Didn’t need the extra lights at all. Just threw a little reflector back onto the dark side of his face and had some nice, headshot lighting. This is the first picture that Ron and his agent selected out of the couple hundred we shot that day. Me, it’s not my favorite… I like him with a bit more of a surly look although he is anything but surly. But this does catch him as a handsome, friendly guy.

Gotta say, Ron was fun to shoot, too. Since this wasn’t his first rodeo, he knew how to pose, which is always a pleasure. Every time he heard the shutter click, he struck an entirely different look.