Photos To Inspire: Jeff Heger

From Photoworkshop.com

Photos to Inspire
Photos To Inspire: Jeff Heger
By Editors of Double Exposure
Nov 1, 2007

TO SEE A GALLERY OF JEFF HEGER'S IMAGES, CLICK HERE

All Images © Jeff Heger

Boatman in China Near the Vietnam Border

Heger developed a love for travel early on, as his parents took him and his six siblings on camping trips when they were young. “We would always go somewhere for long weekends. I think we were the only people camping in the ’60s,” he laughs. “Wanderlust is just part of my genes.” He was introduced to photography when he signed up for an “easy credit” art course during his junior year of high school. A photographer from the local newspaper, The Des Moines Register, came to speak to the class, and as Heger puts it, “I got turned on to photojournalism.” During his senior high school year, he was Chief Photographer for the school yearbook. Heger then went to Iowa State University where he started working on the campus daily newspaper in his freshman year.

He interned at The Register, and worked for them for a couple of years after graduation. “There were about 18 people on the staff,” he says, “and we covered the entire state. It was a great beginning for a location photographer.” He remembers The Register as being a great training ground because the photographers had to make images quickly. “And the staff was really good—two of the photographers have won Pulitzers. We were also pretty hard on each other.”

Today, Heger shoots primarily for Fortune 500 clientele, who love his sense of color, composition, and ability to capture the moment. “I call it location photography as opposed to travel photography,” he states. “I’m not published in travel magazines, and I don’t do much editorial.” For 26 years, Heger has traveled the globe on corporate assignments. His clientele consists of mostly oil companies, such as Apache Corporation, Smith International, Marathon Oil and BHP Billiton. Throughout the years, his client list has included Apple Computers Inc., Holiday Inn, Marriott Hotels, Sun MicroSystems, Motorola, Continental Airlines, and AT&T. Besides shooting on assignment, he says that he enjoys photographing the locations he visits. “I like to shoot the environment and cultural images for my clients. Whether they use it or not is entirely their choice, but I’ve had some really great clients that encourage me to shoot a variety of things because they like my work.”

Oil Refinery Under Construction in Sohar, Oman

Heger shot for Apple for about eight years and enjoyed a lot of freedom. During the last four years, he would shoot for about a week, preceded by a meeting with the client. “I arranged talent, booked locations, and just made it happen.” Currently, he does a lot of work for Apache Corporation. “The Director of Communications and I were on a flight, and we discussed their annual report,” he says. “I suggested something that the Vice President had told me he wanted to do years ago. So we did—by my suggestion—‘a day in the life’ for this company.” He shot photojournalistic images around the world for Apache, and they loved the results. “The best thing in life is a great collaboration, because then you push everyone to a higher level,” he notes. “Ideally that’s what I have with my clients. We both push each other to turn out a better package in the end.”

On the average, Heger says he travels about 4–5 months of the year on the job. “I travel fast,” he points out. “I can do several countries in 13 days. I’m usually not on the ground for very long; maybe three days in a country.” He says he still enjoys lighting his subjects, although digital imaging has made all of that easier. “I used to shoot a lot of architecture,” he adds. “It was another world, seemingly.” For example, he used to photograph hotels for Holiday Inn. He and an assistant once covered four locations in Asia in three weeks with 12 cases of equipment, including 4x5 and 6x7 cameras. “I photographed all interiors, basically. And you shoot hotels in the middle of the night.” Although he travels much lighter these days, he still travels with an assistant about half the time, especially when shooting both video and still images.

Forbidden City, Beijing, China

When asked how he would describe his particular style, Heger replies, “This may sound a little silly, but I think of my photography as ‘the simple little black dress.’ It’s just clean and simple—I’m not really into bells and whistles.” He says that his use of color is very strong. “I may push it a tiny bit in Photoshop, but it’s true color. I think it’s because my background is in black-and-white. I like to see single colors, or just a couple.” He says that he’s always loved Mark Rothko’s paintings for their flat-field use of color.

As for his future goals, Heger responds, “More work! I would also like to venture into the realm of fine-art photography and see where that goes.” In conclusion, he says, “I’ve been very lucky to have great clients who are happy when I bring them images.”

Jeff Heger’s Essential Equipment
• Canon EOS 1DS and EOS 5D camera bodies
• Canon EF 16–35mm f/2.8 and 70–200mm f/2.8 lenses
• Dyna-Lite M1000 strobes and softboxes
• Apple 23-inch flat screens
• Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro
• SanDisk Extreme III 8GB cards
• Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Apple Aperture 1.5.4
• Gitzo tripods

To see more of Jeff Heger's work, visit www.hegerphotography.com.

TO SEE A GALLERY OF JEFF HEGER'S IMAGES, CLICK HERE