Profiles: Eric Goode

Sometimes You Get It Wrong (Then Make It Right)

Poor Eric.

I turned up for the shoot with one goal: to try something new. These profile pieces are rarely about the money—they’re about meeting interesting people and playing with ideas. Eric, unfortunately, got caught in the crossfire of my latest lighting experiment.

I had a new boom arm, and I was keen to use it. The idea was to hang a gridded flash above him and maybe add a ring flash for fill. I was going for hard, gritty, shadow-heavy—more noir villain than nice guy next door. The problem? Eric isthe nice guy next door.

The first batch of photos looked like headshots for a casting call: “Hardened criminal,” “World-weary drifter,” “Slightly unwashed poet.” He was, understandably, a bit surprised.

Take Two: Actually Representing the Person

To his credit, Eric didn’t run for the hills. We rescheduled, and this time I reined it in—still trying something new, but with more empathy. The second set of images looked like him: friendly, open, thoughtful.

The first shoot gave me a technical challenge and some intriguing (if misleading) shots. But it didn’t capture Eric. The second one did.

Moral of the story? Don’t get so caught up in the idea that you forget the person in front of the lens.