Virginia Tech Annual Report
Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES)
Photographing annual reports are terrific opportunities to learn and expand creatively. Creating images for Virginia Tech’s Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) during a pandemic was daunting because I knew there would be a lot of masked faculty and graduate students. I was worried that we would not see the faces behind the research, therefore stifling the feel of the final images. And, as is often the case, I only had an inkling of what kind of environment I’d be walking into. I knew that there would be no windows and only fluorescents—handing challenges like those come with the territory. What I did know was that the work they do at CPES is important and that these researchers and doctoral students were passionate about what they do.
I also knew that this was going to be a quick shoot as professors and graduate students are busy people. The images for CPES’s annual report had to reflect their passion, but they also had to demonstrate to the industry leaders who support their research that work had not halted during the pandemic. I believe these images accomplish both. Besides the enthusiastic lesson I received from CPES Director, Dr. Dushan Boroyevich, on the research being done, I walked away admiring everyone’s stoic determination and quiet pride for having the opportunity to advance the technology that will one day be inside the consumer electronic devices we use every day.
