General Sir Nicholas Houghton is Chief of the Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces. At the beginning of this year, I wrote a letter to Ministry of Defence Head Quarters at Whitehall to invite General Houghton to Sit for a Northerners Photography Exhibition Portrait, the General being from Otley, Yorkshire. General Houghton’s Office replied to my invitation with his Acceptance and the Photoshoot took place in October. The General’s sitting was quite challenging, I have never photographed a high ranking military officer before let alone the highest ranking officer of the British Armed Forces.

On many occasions the General has been Photographed and Painted in his Ceremonial Dress Uniform and wanted to step away from the ceremonial image. General Houghton is regarded as “The Soldiers, Soldier” and Preferred to be Photographed in his Combat Uniform. Shot at at a slightly higher angle, I really wanted to Capture the General’s commanding presence, and with a combination of subtle lighting the images turned out really well.

With only a short time and shooting on Location at the MOD in London, I made use of my portable Studio Backdrops, Lastolite Popup Grey Backdrop and Profoto B2 GO Air TTL Kit. Both images where Photographed with the Hasselblad H3D-39, 100MM .