Photographing a great big magnet

Magnets are cool. Especially when they help save lives. For this project in 1998 I needed to photograph a brand new, VERY expensive MRI scanner in Odessa, TX. Luckily I was able to shoot after hours when the magnet was not busy, and had some local radiology techs to stand in as models. The ambient light in the room was very low, so we decided to strobe the entire room. I chose to use my medium format Mamiya 645 for this photograph - before I was completely digital. Two Photogenic monolights were used to light the room, and one monolight with a yellow gel firing into the MRI from behind helped add drama and interest to the scene. It was interesting to walk past the MRI and almost have the lightstand and light jerked out of my hands by the magnet! My Sekonic light meter's LCD display would just disappear any time I got too close to the magnet, limiting my ability to meter the scene.

We pulled this shot off in about 45 minutes and only one role of 110 roll film. This image is still very current today and a best seller for me.