Three Questions for Insurance Expert David Altmaier // INFLUENCE Magazine

Three Questions for Insurance Expert David Altmaier // INFLUENCE Magazine

INFLUENCE Magazine assigned us to photograph David Altmaier for a feature in their Fall 2023 issue. The story, written by Peter Schorsch, was a Q&A on Florida's insurance landscape, and the portrait session took place at The Southern Group's offices in Tallahassee.

Lobbying firm offices are a setting we know well as Tallahassee photographers. We've photographed portraits at firms across downtown and Adams Street over the years, and each one has its own layout, its own light, and its own visual identity. The Southern Group's offices gave us a professional backdrop for the session, and for a feature like this where the portrait needs to accompany a focused interview, the images need to feel polished and confident without being stiff.

For a single-subject portrait session in an office environment, the approach is about making the most of the space you're given. You assess the layout, identify which areas give you the most ideal backgrounds and the most interesting depth, and then build the session around those spots. We used Profoto lighting to give us control over the portrait quality and ensure Altmaier was lit consistently regardless of which part of the office we were working in. Office lighting can be inconsistent from room to room, and having our own setup means the images maintain the same level of quality across the full set.

We tethered to our MacBook Pro running Capture One during the session so we could review the portraits at full resolution in real time. For a feature where the magazine may only use one or two images, every frame matters, and seeing the details on a larger screen while you're still working lets you make precise adjustments to expression, posture, and composition before the subject's time is up. Tethering is a standard part of our workflow for portrait sessions at professional offices because it helps us work efficiently within the time window the subject has available.

Political portrait photography and professional headshot work at lobbying firms is a consistent part of what we do as editorial photographers in Florida. The subjects are busy, the sessions tend to be compact, and the images need to serve both the publication's editorial needs and the professional standards of the subject. We bring the same level of preparation to every office session whether it's for INFLUENCE Magazine or any other publication we serve in Tallahassee.

This feature was photographed by The Workmans for INFLUENCE Magazine and appeared in the Fall 2023 issue and was written by Peter Schorsch. 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!