I recently finished up a project for the UCSF schools of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Biophysics PhD programs. I have a vague understanding of the work they are doing, just enough to have a rudimentary conversation about the research. Lucky for me, that is enough to get them excited and talking about their research and forget about being photographed.
This room had a few massive magnets, and I was warned not to get too close to the machines. Even when they are off they could potentially fry the electronics on my cameras. I kept a safe distance and all was good.
Getting people who are not used to being photographed to not look like they are posing, when they are posing. I would not be able to be in the room with the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance microscopes when they were active, so we had to recreate what would happen, and the result could be rather stiff. But, all of the researchers were such great people to talk to and so eager to explain their work to me, with my vague understanding of what they were saying.
