Back to aquaculture for this one—one of my favourite frames, captured at the engineering facilities of Scottish Sea Farms in Scalloway.
This was a slightly challenging setup. The engine was housed in a small, container-like structure, making it impossible to shoot from inside. It would’ve been easy to dismiss a scene like this at first glance – it felt a bit gloomy and definitely needed extra effort to work – but as soon as I saw the red of the engine, I knew I wanted to photograph it. I also just enjoy the challenge of lighting a tricky shot!
For this, I used a couple of small flashes – one to light the engine and one for the subject. It takes a bit of time to balance, but is always worth it. Both lights were gridded (if I remember right), which helped keep the light directional and focused exactly where I wanted it. By bringing down the ambient light with a faster shutter speed, I was able to remove distractions outside the container and guide the viewer’s eye straight to the subject.
A simple shot in essence – but one that needed a bit of patience to get right. The subject (a genuinely nice chap) was fully invested, which always makes a difference when you need that extra time to dial everything in.
