2020 Politician(s) of the Year // INFLUENCE Magazine

2020 Politician(s) of the Year // INFLUENCE Magazine

INFLUENCE Magazine assigned us to photograph portraits of several Florida mayors for their Winter 2021 "Politicians of the Year" feature. The story, written by Janelle Taylor and Jacob Ogles, covered mayors across the state, and our assignment took us to three cities to capture environmental portraits at the Tampa Riverwalk, Albert Whitted Park in St. Petersburg, and Lake Eola in Orlando.

A multi-city portrait assignment like this requires a different kind of planning than a single-location session. Each mayor had a limited window of availability, so we mapped out the travel between Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Orlando to make the most of each stop. There's no room to run over when your next subject is two hours down the road and has 20 minutes on their calendar. As Florida photographers, we've built our workflow around that kind of schedule; you show up ready, you work efficiently, and you deliver consistent results regardless of how tight the timeline gets.

All three locations were outdoors, which means you're working with whatever the weather and the sun give you that day. The Tampa Riverwalk is wide open along the waterfront, Albert Whitted Park in St. Petersburg sits right on the bay, and Lake Eola in downtown Orlando has its own set of background elements to work around. Each setting has a different visual personality, but the goal for the magazine was a cohesive series of portraits that felt connected across the spread. We used our Canon mirrorless system with a range of Canon lenses to maintain consistency in the look while adapting to the different environments. Keeping the focal lengths and framing approach similar across locations helps tie the images together even when the backgrounds are completely different.

Environmental portrait photography of public officials also comes with its own logistics. These are people with security considerations, packed schedules, and communications teams coordinating alongside you. The photoshoot has to fit within a window that's been negotiated well in advance, and once you're on location, the clock is running. That's where preparation matters most. We scout locations ahead of time when we can, identify our preferred angles and backgrounds, and arrive ready to work so that the subject's time in front of the camera is as efficient as possible.

This assignment was a good example of the kind of Florida editorial photography that takes us beyond Tallahassee. As Tallahassee photographers, the majority of our work happens in the capital city, but assignments like this remind us how much great editorial work exists across the state.

This feature was photographed by The Workmans for INFLUENCE Magazine and appeared in the Winter 2021 issue and was written by Janelle Taylor and Jacob Ogles. The Workmans are a husband-and-wife photography team based in Tallahassee, Florida, and we work with publications across the state of Florida, in Washington D.C. and around the United States. You can explore more of our editorial photography in the archive, see more of our work across our website and connect with us on how we can best serve you!