I always love photographing real people doing real things. What could be more fun than photographing volunteer firemen? I got that opportunity recently for Oklahoma Living Magazine. My assignment was to photograph firemen from the Coyle and Woodcrest fire departments in Oklahoma. I had the idea to do a split-shot photo that showed both the fireman side and the volunteer side of these servants. Mike Galbraith offered to meet me at my home studio where I could set up lights and photograph him both in his turnout gear and his normal every-day gear. That required me to mark where his feet were to be placed, lock my camera on a tripod, set up my lights so they wouldn’t move, and try to get his face in exactly the same place so I could merge the two photos together in Photoshop. Pretty happy with how this turned out.
I also spent time in Coyle and at the Woodcrest Fire Department east of Guthrie getting pictures of their departments. It is always interesting to learn how these departments and the people who staff them work.
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