Last year a Picture editor from Dutch Newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant contacted me about photographing physicist Sabine Hossenfelder. She was giving an interview on her new book, Existential Physics and the paper needed photography to go with the article. Fortunately for me, she was attending a lecture at the Physics Department of Oxford University.
It was a chilly but sunny December day when we made plans to meet in the physics department later in the morning. As the publication had mentioned they wanted outside images, I arrived early to scope out some great spots around the building. Fortunately, it is close to university parks, making it simple to take pictures outside. Despite it being December, the trees weren't very green.
As I met Sabine, she briefly introduced me to the head of the department, and he graciously allowed us to take a few shots inside the building. It had a great modern feel which some winding stairs much like the scene in Harry Potter I thought. There was plenty of light and some nice wood features around and I captured some lovely editorial images of Sabine.
Although I frequently discuss my clients' work with them, whenever they bring up quantum mechanics, all I could think about was the upcoming Ant-Man film Quantumania! Maybe I should have consulted her about the quantum world.
She was easy to photograph and obviously a pro. To get the exterior, and environment images, we briefly went outside.
The shots I took were a mix of portrait and landscape leaving space around the subject for the copy as it was part of an interview and I assume a quote or a headline will be within the photo.
I used my canon 5d Mark 3 with my 24mm-105mm lens and my Godox V1 flash. Edits and retouching were done in Adobe Lightroom.
To see the interesting physics article please click the link below.