It was a great pleasure to photograph Hiromasa Yonekura, the chairman of the Japan Business Federation.
The photo shoot took place in a meeting room of the Japan Business Federation building, filled with lots of warm, soothing colors. These turned out to be particularly complimentary for his skin tones, more flattering than cool tones would have been. There were many trophy-type decorations on a large table, and I could have used these in the image, but I opted instead for a simple composition, emphasizing Hiromasa.
Then it was a matter of posing - for vertical photos, having the right shoulder of the subject towards the camera often works best. Generally speaking, for portraits of this type, 'straight on' doesn't work as well as diagonal - people usually look better when seen from an angle. (Then again, rules are meant to be broken.)
Finally, I needed to think about lighting, and chose to make it a little harsh, to suggest the power and character of Hiromasa.
