I’ve known Roger for nearly 30 years. He and I have shared an affinity for motorcycles for that long, although I will say he is much more of a motorhead than I am. Part of the reason that we became such good friends is because we have similar values and can make each other laugh for hours. He is also a photographer and understands the concepts of putting together a shoot, which is super helpful.

This photo was taken as he looks at retirement. As with many of my portraits, I got a vision in my head one night of what it would look like, and this is it. I asked him to wear these clothes, including the vest that he found online and the boots you see here. He is not a cigar smoker. However, as a fellow photographer, he agreed to smoke one for the portrait to imply success as he sat on his Corvette and to comply with the vision I had. As we discussed it, I told him that I wanted to put him in an environment that was indicative of cars and mechanics. He had been working with this speed shop since he got his car. I went by and scouted it, spoke with the owner- who was incredibly accommodating- and got this photo.

There was a garage door behind the camera, and one camera left that would have made lighting easier in the back of the shop. However, we needed to wait until after business hours to shoot, which meant using all artificial light. This is a multi-light shoot including three gelled studio flashes in the background to add some color dynamics, a gridded key light camera right, and a strip box for rim light camera left.

Technical Information- Gear: Canon EOS 5D MK IV, Canon EF16-35f/2.8L USM @16mm

Exposure: 1/100s @ f/3.2 ISO 800 Lighting: 5 studio flashes- 1 gridded strip box high camera left, 1 gridded soft box key light camera right, 3 gelled to light background.