An image from an annual report project last year.

In a hospital lobby. Talking about energy.

I love photographing annual report projects. We used to do a lot of them but many companies opt not to print the big, four color brochures that used to be more or less standard. Now they print the financials on plain paper with black ink and depend on their web content to fill in the emotional blanks. 

One of the projects I handled last year was for an electric utility company. They serve residential consumers but they also serve enterprise and corporate customers. One of the images the marketing department wanted was a discussion between a hospital engineering person and a representative from the utility. They wanted the image to say, "Hospital." 

We located a customer facility and got permission. While the image does not look lit we did use a 60 inch umbrella near camera position to create enough fill light so the faces "read" well.  The light came from a small, battery powered electronic flash, used at a low power. I feathered it as well as I could so that it didn't spill light all over the floor. I was helped by intentionally cropping out (in camera) the part of the ceiling effected by my fill light. 

I used a Nikon D810 and the 85mm f1.8 G lens, set to f2.8, to make the shot, which wound up being used as a spread in the finished report.

I was going to remove the exit sign in the top, middle of the frame because I have photographed for many architects and interior designers and they hate exit signs in their photographs. Hospital people like to make sure they are always seen to be in compliance and so having the sign show was not an issue.

Just another day out of the office with cameras...