“How close to the edge are you thinking..?” - Gov. Polis

Mountain Gazette is back. Having started in 1966, “the legendarily irreverent magazine that featured the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, George Sibley and Edward Abbey” has returned as a massive semi-annual publication aimed at capturing and commenting on outdoor culture again.

With the publication’s history in mind I was pretty excited to be asked to photograph Colorado Governor Jared Polis for MG’s Winter 2020 issue. 

Fast forward through some emails, texts, yada yada, and I found myself near the edge of a cliff in Colorado National Monument setting up my flashes.

I was flying solo on this one so I kept my setup pretty simple and straight forward; two Profoto B1 heads with a mix of modifiers. Profoto’s High Speed Sync feature was really helpful on this too, allowing me to shoot in bright afternoon sunlight at 1/5000s at f/5, ISO 500. 

Given that I was somehow able to convince my Governor, including his communications team as well as his security detail, to drive out of their way to Colorado National Monument and meet me at the very top on a random cliff, our time together was also pretty short and sweet. 33 frames later and our shoot was finished, and we even had a park ranger stop by to say hi. 

Getting the opportunity to photograph someone I’ve voted for was a treat, and doing so for a publication with the kind of reverence in the outdoor world that Mountain Gazette has was just icing on the cake. 

If there are still any copies left, you can subscribe to Mountain Gazette to see the full feature with Gov. Polis in the Winter 2020 issue.

Gear Used:

• Sony a7R IV camera

• Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens

• Profoto B1 strobe (x2)

• Profoto Air Remote TTL-S

• Profoto White Beauty Dish

• Photoflex Extra Large LiteDome softbox

• ThinkTank Production Manager + Stand Manager bags