Shooting at the Pentagon - for an editorial assignment

I got a call from a magazine photo editor requesting I shoot a person who works at the Pentagon in Washington DC for a magazine article about the future of I.T. I came up with, among a few others, the idea of using doors as a metaphor. Unfortunately, the Pentagon is a very busy place with a lot of rules and regulations regarding when and where I could set up lights. Heck, it took me nearly 30 minutes to find my approved parking space, and another 30 minutes waiting at the gate for my escort! So, I was only able to set up in a small alcove by some doors that could not be opened. I did that shot, but also asked if I could shoot the subject with some glass doors in the middle of a hallway, as long as I didn't set up lights or disrupt the normal flow of traffic. I had to use a small hot-shoe flash, which I color balanced for the fluorescent lights in the hallway, and bounced off the wall to my right. The resulting image was OK, but not up to my standards:



So, I got on the computer and spent a few minutes tweaking it. I changed around some of the colors, darkened some areas, and removed the ugly signs. It went from a boring image that any competent photographer could make, to something I could be proud to say is mine. Here is the final image:



Another shot I did for the same article is below. This one is the original door idea i had. This shot is more interesting than the Pentagon shot, but the story behind it isn't...