One of the childhood friends who I’m visiting in Phoenix is a firefighter/paramedic, and invited me to stop by the station for a quick tour and to get some shots. Just as I walked in, they got a call—but invited me to ride along! It was a fairly routine medical call (no fire), and out of respect for the patient’s privacy the asked me not to photograph in their home. So the shots are mostly on the way out and back to the station, as well as a few fun portraits of my friend Ron on the bumper of the firetruck.

For shots inside the truck, a single on-camera flash was used, bouncing off the ceiling of the truck with the little white fill-reflector in position. For the portrait, a single off-camera flash was used. No light stands or umbrellas… just handheld, stretched out as far as I could reach with a diffusion panel on the strobe.

Finally, I couldn’t resist the offer to pull on some of the (very heavy!) gear, and pose for a photo of my own.