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Pictures pro bono
Tasked with hiring a professional photographer to shoot formal portraits of every member of the City of Fairfax Fire Department, Lt. Shawn Dunstan in January performed a Google search on his computer and found the phone number of Diana Adams of Studio Diana on Main Street in downtown Fairfax City.
The last time department portraits were taken was about 10 years ago.
With a sizable change in personnel since then, Fire Chief Tom Owens, Dunstan said, wanted some new photos for each firefighter’s file and also to use in a soon-to-be-published yearbook commemorating the 30th anniversary of the city’s career fire department, founded in 1978.
When Dunstan called Adams to find out if she could do the job, he was surprised by her answer.
“She said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it for free.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’” Dunstan said.
Adams said she offered her photography services pro bono because of the fire department’s service to the community, but she also wanted something in exchange.
“I told Shawn in that phone call, I’ll do this if I can get a certain number of people in their full firefighting gear and do some of my portraits,” she said.
In addition to taking dignified traditional-style color portraits of the city’s 69 career firefighters, including five women firefighters, all dressed in their Class A uniforms, as well as portraits of the department’s building inspectors and administrative staff, Adams asked that she be permitted to photograph some of the firefighters for portraits in a style similar to ones she took for her photo exhibit titled “Main Street USA.”
On display for a time in the lobby of the Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax City, the exhibit features portraits taken in Adam’s second-floor studio of people, many originally from various parts of the globe, who live and work on Main Street in downtown Fairfax.
“I thought for the firefighters I would do more of a close up like the Main Street show with a white background in black and white with their gear still on for a different kind of look,” she said.
After Chief Owens met with Adams and agreed to her request, a steady stream of Fairfax City firefighters made their way to her studio over a period of weeks during February and March, usually at about 7 a.m., to have their formal portraits taken.
Adams said she was amazed at how well each took direction and did exactly what she said when posing them. Some of the newer department members still had not purchased their own Class A uniform, so they borrowed one from a co-worker that sometimes was either too big or too small.
“Most of the problems were with the epaulets. They buckled up and I tried to smooth them out,” Adams said. “But once I got behind the camera, they would usually bunch up again.”
She said that hopefully in the very near future, she would start shooting firefighters for the black and white portraits.
“I want them to be inspirational photos. They are going to be really noble looking,” Adams said.
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