Assignment: Photograph Sergei Sikorsky

Igor Sikorsky cast a very long shadow in the world of aviation, yet his son was no wall flower lounging in the comfort of his father's fame. He was a designer, a marketer, a leader, and continues today as a consultant and an ambassador of technology and innovation. My agency was tasked with videotaping an interview with Sergei, for a company other than Sikorsky Aircraft, and my assignment was as still photographer, capturing portraits and candids of the interview.

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The setting we chose was the famed secret room (http://kjzz.org/content/23445/did-you-know-biltmore-hotel-has-mystery-room) at the Arizona Biltmore resort, a cozy space with bold architectural design and details (thank you Frank Lloyd Wright). Because we were shooting video with multiple cameras, I did not have the freedom to set up stands and lighting specifically for stills, plus time was a constraint as he is a busy man and the video was the focus.

Sergei held forth on the topic at hand, and when the cameras weren't running I captured shots of the setup and of our guest, then in the few minutes we had after the official interview was over, we chatted and I captured more casual images. He's a great speaker, with intensity backed by decades of experience. That all came through, of course, but best of all, he has an easy smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Every moment was a pleasure and an honor.
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"Talking about airplanes is a very pleasant mental disease."

— Sergei Sikorsky