Environmental portraits, nothing to do with global warming

I'm a big fan of environmental portraiture. Don't worry, I'm not going to join Greenpeace and start taking pictures of baby seals or anything... not that there is anything wrong with pictures of baby seals. I'm talking about portraits of people where the environment they are in tells part of the story. If the portrait depends on the background elements to work, then it's probably environmental.
Today I got to shoot a few environmental portraits of my pastor, Dr. Todd Baucum. I wanted to bring out two different themes, the scholarly inquisitive side and the solemn pastoral side. So, we set up in the sanctuary and in Dr. Baucum's office/library (which is quite impressive).

This is the more dramatic/solemn version.





Here is the more vibrant version, showing off his love of learning.





I really enjoy the process of figuring out the composition and lighting, then the post-processing work setting the colors and detail work. But, the best part is the collaboration, after all the subject has to be comfortable with the shot.

I love this gig.