Chocolate Mad Scientist

I tried to get other photographers to shoot this assignment from Pulse Magazine, as I just couldn't think of how to illustrate a story about a guy who makes chocolate.  After a bit of brain-storming with Marvin, my subject, we came up with a sort of "Mad Scientist" scenario.  My old high school in Mount Dora supplied the chemistry room location, along with a lot of the props, and Marvin (a former fashion stylist in LA) did a great job putting it all together while Mike and I lit the scene.
A long time ago, I was in a restaurant and saw beautiful light coming down through a skylight, hitting the white tablecloth and bouncing light up on the faces of the patrons.  It was only a glimpse, maybe 20 years ago, but it stuck with me, and on this shoot I was able to put it to use.
The main light on Marvin is coming from a tight spolight over his head and bouncing off a white sheet of paper in front of him.  You can tell from the photos that when I had him put his hands in front of his face, he had to keep them way out to avoid getting hit with the spot light.  There is a hair light, a lighbox on each side of his face and a blue-gelled light on the background, but most all of the light is coming from that one spot. 

What the room looked like when we got there

The setup

The Three Amigos