Jake Dyson Light have invented the Ariel light, a LED light which will last around 40 years – impressive stuff! I recently visited their office in Central London to photograph Jake for Quality World magazine. The brief was to shoot a strong headshot for the cover, with the rest left up to me. Given the nature of his work, dramatic lighting was the order of the day.
It’s the first workplace I’ve been to where the owner’s car is parked INSIDE the office next to the desks. It’s a cool, open plan space with high ceilings – perfect for photography. I shot the cover image first, setting up two portable flash lights behind Jake to each side for some nice rim lighting, and a further light to the front as the key (using Calumet Genesis GF400 lights with a Elinchrom Rotalux Deep Octa Softbox on the key).
Once I was happy with these I added a further element, in keeping with the lighting theme of the feature. I asked Jake to hold a speedlight in his hand and I added a blue gel to this as I had a blue tone in mind for the final photos.
I also shot an alternative version with him sitting at a table.
I then finished off with a photo of Jake with his CSYS Task Light before heading downstairs for a portrait of him at work in his workshop.
It was an interesting shoot and Jake was up great to work with – here’s how the cover and feature turned out.
You can click the following link to view a previous editorial portrait photography shoot at Silverstone, or here to view my portfolio.