Over at Spa Lighting in Co. Kerry the other week we needed a head-and-shoulders shot of the owner of the business, David Cahill.

Thing is, when you’re photographing someone who sells light, you want to do something a bit special. You also don’t want to eat too much into their time, even if they are as accommodating as David.

I’d played around with a long exposure before using some Christmas tree lights on a personal shoot some while ago, and while the results didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped I learned a lot. Enough to make a stab at something interesting for David, any road.

We found a large illuminated bookcase in the shop to use as a background and built the picture from there.

The idea was to shoot with a long shutter speed that would allow my assistant to swing a light bulb on a cord around David, leaving a trail of light. Dave himself is part lit by the bulb and part by a burst of flash from an off-camera flash just to camera right. The final exposure was 2.5 seconds at an aperture of f/18.

More from this shoot to come.

(c) Roger Overall - www.rogeroverall.net