Ricky Berens of the United States poses with his gold medal in the NBC Today Show Studio after winning the Mens 4×200 Swimming Relay event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 13, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)

The other day I had one of my better days at work so I thought I would share it with you. I went down to the NBC studio with Kristian, a Getty Images photographer, as the US women’s gymnastics team was coming in. They came in all glum and miserable as they got silver, but as soon as he said smile they became pageant girls!! Hysterical!!

BEIJING - AUGUST 13: (L-R) Alicia Sacramone, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Samantha Peszek, Chellsie Memmel and Bridget Sloan of the United States pose together with their silver medals in the NBC Today Show Studio after placing second in the Women’s Gymnastics team event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 13, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)

And then we had a swimmer: I didn’t know who it was (I only know Phelps from the US team, sorry!) and this guy comes in, wearing a sports shirt, so we’re like “hi, come in.” Kristian sets up the shot and then says “Can you take your shirt off?” and he says “What?!” and Kristian says “You’re a swimmer, right? Can you take it off?” So we start laughing and he takes it off, hands it to me - and his medal - and then I give him his medal back to wear.

Then Kristian asks me to hold the reflector so I’m on my knees in front of his hips, holding this rectangular reflector board, trying SO hard not to smile!!!!! Then the door goes open and his manager/trainer whatever says “oh my god!” when she sees that his shirt is off. I told her not to worry and that all the shots will be “above board” and Ricky couldn’t stop smiling - hence the pics below.

Ricky Berens of the United States poses with his gold medal in the NBC Today Show Studio after winning the Mens 4×200 Swimming Relay event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 13, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)

He was lovely. A tough day at the office.

That’s me in “the chair.”

My phone rings. On the other end of the phone is an Atlanta prop store owner calling to ask me where he can drop off “the chair.” Now, I had a heads up here. Getty Images staff photographer Jamie Squire, asked to shoot portraits for the NHL All-Star game in Atlanta, and he warned fellow editor Christian Petersen and I that a chair would be arriving. However, we weren’t expecting this kind of chair.

To our surprise and amusement the chair we would be using for portraits of NHL All-Stars and Youngstars would be a chair that resembles something Hugh Hefner would own and something you might find at a bad antique shop.

Would these NHL players really pose for a portrait in this thing? We felt, along with the people from NHL Images, that Jamie was taking a chance but only time would tell. Just in case the players wouldn’t go for it Jamie brought a bar stool in the studio.

Christian and I helped Jamie set up lights and after shooting some test frames on “the chair” against the black backdrop we felt confident the photos would be high quality and something memorable. All that was left was convincing the players.

Some of our test shots:

In the portrait studio we thought it might be good if we had a couple of female assistants to make the players feel comfortable in the chair. So with the help of some of the NHLI staff and fellow editor Rebecca Butala How, they were able to convince all the players except Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins that they would look fantastic in “the chair.”

It worked.

Jamie Squire at work with a NHL Allstar athlete.

50 plus All-Stars later Jamie accomplished a portrait shoot that some felt would not work. Many major newspaper outlets the next day even used the portraits on their front page of their sport sections and many other magazine requests have been put in for usage. And none of this would have been possible if it weren’t for The Chair.

As an Editorial Field Editor I don’t have too much interaction with athletes I cover when I’m working. 99% of the time I am in a dark, dingy room in front of my computer and a TV if I’m lucky. I don’t get to see much of the games I cover in person because while the game is going on have to be editing. Sure, I see the athletes in the back tunnels of venues all over the country but rarely do either of us acknowledge one another. A recent assignment provided me the chance to actually interact with one of the athletes we were photographing.
The Monday before Thanksgiving, I got sent on assignment to assist New York based photographer Nick Laham on a portrait shoot in Cleveland with second year Cleveland Brown wide receiver Braylon Edwards.
Nick planned on doing 2 different shoots in 2 days. One in a studio we would set up and the other in an area of downtown Cleveland which we would scout for once there.
The day started early with Nick and I heading downtown to find some places to shoot. After a few hours of driving around and looking for locations, Nick and I had successfully picked out where our second day shoot would be.

Nick Laham takes test shots under a bridge in downtown Cleveland. (Photo by Michael Heiman)

We then headed out to the suburbs to meet Mr. Edwards at his house to do the studio shots, which we planned on setting up in his garage. We met Braylon, some of his friends and his family and after talking for a little while we set up all of our gear in his garage. After setting up some lights and a backdrop we got to work.

Michael Heiman hams it up for Nick Laham to test the lights and exposures before shooting. (Photo by Nick Laham)

Nick Laham shoots Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns in the garage of his house. (Photo by Michael Heiman)

Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns poses in the garage of his house. (Photo by Nick Laham)

Braylon proved to be really good with the camera and gave us plenty of time to shoot him in different poses and clothing. After around two hours of actually shooting we decided we had enough studio shots for the night and broke everything down and headed back to our hotel.
Tuesday was the day we choose to shoot on location in downtown Cleveland and decided to meet Braylon around 1pm at one of the spots we had scouted the day before. We started off on a closed down bridge in downtown Cleveland. This was a perfect place for us to start the shoot. It was closed to traffic and off the beaten path so we didn’t have to worry about getting in anyone’s way and they couldn’t get in ours.

Nick Laham shoots Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns on a closed bridge in downtown Cleveland. (Photo by Michael Heiman)

Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns poses on a closed bridge in downtown Cleveland. (Photo by Nick Laham)

After 45 minutes or so we moved to our second location which was an asphalt plant we had also checked out the day before. This was a great location that again was very quite and allowed us to shoot and not get in anyone’s way. At this point, the sun had gone down a little more and provided us with some really nice light for the rest of our shoot.

Nick Laham shoots Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns at an asphalt plant in downtown Cleveland. (Photo by Michael Heiman)

Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns poses at an asphalt plant in downtown Cleveland. (Photo by Nick Laham)

After another 45 minutes or so we called it a wrap and packed up and headed back to the hotel.
Two days of shooting gave us time to work with different ideas and is one of the reasons this shoot was so successful. Braylon was a really nice guy and a total professional and it came through in the final edit. For me, this experience and assignment proved to be both challenging and fun.

To see the final edit click here.