Wisconsin Commercial Photographer • Firefighter Portrait Project

A few weeks ago I was asked to shoot a series of photos of a volunteer firefighter in a small Wisconsin town, New Holstein, and his two sons who also volunteer with the department.  I had total creative control over the shoot and a nice newer Pierce firetruck at my disposal, so I started brainstorming some ideas. I knew we needed to get the shot of the three of them together, but I also wanted to do some nice portraits and situational photos that could be used later as stock photography.   I also wanted to do some shots at dusk to get that nice deep blue in the sky.  Having smoke machines added to the feel of them being at a fire scene when the sky got darker.  When the guys pulled up to the location, they decided to give the truck one last little wash to get it looking it’s best; I grabbed a couple of unexpected shots of them doing that, which I really like.

I want to say thanks to Scott Schmidt and his sons, Tyler and Curt for being so cooperative during the shoot and jumping through those extra hoops to make the images even better.  Also thanks to my assistants Matt Ludtke and Todd Truttman for kicking some butt on the lighting and smoke machine wrangling.  

Thanks for looking!

Mike