Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach stands by a window at this office at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta. Photo by Jimmy Jeong for the Globe and Mail.

I was commissioned last week by the Globe and Mail to take a portrait of the Albert premier. They had slotted a time for myself and the reporter from 3:30 to 4pm. So basically, a half-an-hour for the interview and the portrait. Which usually means 5 min or less for the portrait. That’s problem one.

 So, as I was doing my research on photos of past premiers and politicians one thing I didn’t want to do was the stand-by photo of the Premier behind his desk flanked by the Canadian flag and the Alberta flag. Boring and it usually doesn’t add anything to the story. I’m sure the story will mention that he is the premier of Alberta or else it will be obvious. So why take the obvious and redundant photo. Problem two – how not to take another redundant photo.

 The day before the interview and portrait was supposed to be done, I called the Premier’s press secretary, Tom Olsen, and explained what I wanted to do. Or more specifically, what I didn’t want to do. He said that he couldn’t promise anything but to call him the next morning. I did. And I showed up around 10am at the Legislature at Tom’s office.

 I was told that the Premier had a busy day, including Question Period. I replied that I was willing to wait for an opening. I waited. And waited. Then I got about six minutes with the Premier and his staff as they prepped for Question Period. Then I waited some more. And then I got about 3 minutes with the Premier and his chief of staff. Then I waited some more.

 3:30 came rolling around and I went in with the reporter. And I waited as she finished her time. Then it was my turn. It was past four and already getting dark so I asked if I could turn off all the lights in his office so that the tungsten lights wouldn’t mix with the window light. And in about 38 seconds total, I took this photo.

 Maybe I really didn’t need more than 5 minutes to take a portrait. Maybe I didn’t have to spend the day to take a 5-minute portrait. But, if I didn’t spend the time preparing I probably wouldn't be in a dark room with the Premier of Alberta.

The Technical Stuff: Keeping It Simple. I shot the whole day with a Nikon D700 and a 50 F1.4 lens.

A bride is helped by her mother before the wedding for a destination wedding
at the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Jimmy Jeong.

Traditionally, the bride wears white and the groom is in black. Really, what
more do you need. Everything else is just an added garnish. In fact, they
may prove distracting. Well, at least when it comes to the photographs.

Look at the photo above. Where is your eye drawn to?

In the original scene, the mother is wearing a colourful traditional Korean
dress. If you saw this photograph in colour, then that would be the first
thing your eye would probably pop to. But in this B&W version, you might
instead start at the bride. You would notice the contrast of her eyebrows,
eyelashes and her hair with the surrounding white. Your eyes would spend
extra time noticing the transparency and texture of the veil and the cross
patterns of her dress. Then you might notice the forms in the photos. The
way her head is tilted forward balanced by her reaching arms and the
extension of the veil leading to the helping hands of her mother.

You would see the connections and the shades of grey in the revealing light.
You would see the emotions, the story.

—Jimmy