Kingston Icon of Photography: Chris Rainier

Photo by Chris Rainier

How does he get perfect shots in the jungles of Borneo and Uganda, or in the ice floes of Antarctica where natural lighting is not always perfect?

“Since Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate when you’re out in the wild, I always bring along supplemental lighting because it can really make the difference in my portraits,” says Chris Rainier, this month’s Kingston Icon of Photography.

And what does he bring with him? A Norman 400B system and a Chimera light box combo for lighting and a Hasselblad for a camera are among his equipment. Rainier’s photos have graced the pages of Life, Time, National Geographic, The New York Times and publications for Amnesty International.

He once hired a native to be a lighting assistant, with disastrous and comical results; all the natives around the shoot scampered and fled when the big light went off.

[Read: Kingston Icon of Photography]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.