FSU basketball coach Pat Kennedy

I created this photography much like I do my commercial and corporate photography or what I call my corporate identity photography.  My commercial photography is created to give visual interest to an individual or head of a company.  The concept of the photograph can match the person’s job but it can also play off of their hobbies outside of their work.

This photo was taken in Tallahassee in 1996 of then FSU head basketball coach Pat Kennedy for a feature story on the coach.

I spend a day conceiving the photo and securing the location (Montgomery Gym) with a spare basketball goal.  It also took an extra day to borrow a tuxedo from a local tux shop.

Photoshop was not an option as this photo was taken on a larger format Bronica with chrome film.  One piece of film, one photo. There was no multiple image montage.  There was no looking at the monitor to confirm the photo after each photo like we do with digital today.

Coach Kennedy got on the goal and it was raised 4 feet high and the tricky part began.  An assistant lay on his back under the basket with a rubber basketball impaled onto a black steel rod.  We slathered it with a flammable gel and lit it on fire.  My assistant swung the flaming basketball in an arch to the basket.  Each arch of the ball resulted in one click of the camera.  We did it again and again until we had turned the local Wal-Mart’s supply of cheap basketballs into a box of charred remnants.

Images, such as the one of Coach Kennedy, do well to place a visual draw on the president of a company as well.  Commercial photography, I feel, is much to predictable these days. Predictable is routine, like everybody else which is not good in today’s economy.  I think the purpose of good corporate photography in Tallahassee is to bring a personality to the photo, not just a photo of a personality.  Sell the individual and sell the company.

Listening to:  Michelle Shocked – Anchorage