I met WE-EF at LEDucation NYC earlier this year, and found my way to having a meeting with their North American rep, Newlin. Newlin and I met virtually, but also bonded over a mutual love of fine coffee at Solid State on the upper east side, before going to scout the Delacorte Theater, another location featuring WE-EF’s lights. We discussed that project, and this one, Governor’s Island, where a substantial number of WE-EF’s Luminaires illuminate the island’s walkways. Their mounting on wooden posts is unique among their catalog, and the views of the lights with the NYC skyline and Statue of Liberty provided great new opportunities for the imagery in their product portfolio.

They provided me with their company guidelines on imagery, which gave me clarity on what to do and not do when shooting this type of lighting, and I poured through their website and catalog to find past examples of how they’ve chosen to showcase their work, and how other photographers have approached the challenges of shooting these lights.

Governor’s Island provided a specific challenge in that there is time restricted access to the island, as you have to catch the last ferry of the island in the evening, or find a way to stay overnight on the island - for which I believe there is only one option, Collective Retreats Glamping Resort.

I coordinated with Collective’s parent company to spend a night on the island, so I could give myself the option of getting sunrise imagery that would be impossible to be on site for if I did not spend the night on location. This allowed me to get additional images that made it into WE-EF’s final selection, so I’m happy I put in the additional effort.

Even with all the great images I produces for them, all the lovely light, skylines, and soft sunset colors, I dreamt afterward of even more images I could have made here. The mad dash to cover so much ground in the fading light was quite the feat, and I nearly blistered my feet running around to get the images. You may think it’s a literal ‘walk in the park’, but it was quite a bit more frantic than that.

We would have liked to add in some drone photography, but there are heavy restrictions and red tape about flying in NYC and Governor’s Island specific, that were unnecessary hurdles to jump for this particular project.

It was a very successful and informative first foray into creating imagery for a lighting manufacturer, and I’m thrilled to have been given the opportunity, and to shoot images that resonate with me so much. I’ve been drawn to twilight and lighting all my life, and it’s an absolute joy and dream come true for this to be the work I do to make a living.

I look forward to many more projects like this.

If you’re a lighting designer or lighting manufacturer, I’d love to discuss photographing your next project.