Personal Project - An Athlete’s Portrait

With so much work on my platter, it's sometimes difficult to find time for personal projects - but they are SO vital to getting ahead of the curve, pushing myself creatively, and achieving new levels of excellence.

Although I could write about any of the other jobs I did in the last couple weeks, I'm feeling a bit introspective these days, and I thought sharing a personal project would continue that wonderful trend....

GOAL: An athlete's portrait that would be bold and heroic.  Vibrant.  A visual assault to your eyes.

I called upon my friend Matthew, who I know is an avid cyclist.  I approached it like I would any assignment: I sketched my concept down, making notes of all the elements I would have to consider regarding the scene, the lighting, and the post-processing.  We would meet in downtown Nanaimo at the only time available... it would be dark.  While some photographers may run at this point - I like the dark, it means I'm in control of all the light!

Matthew did a fantastic job posing and holding the look, to be honest, we shot only about 22 frames before we wrapped.

This is a style that I've dreamed of creating for a while - and doing it as a personal project meant that I had the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries without any consequence.  ...and as many photographers know, you're more likely to get paid to shoot what you can already show in your portfolio.

So, there it is, the bold/athletic/pop-off-the-page look.... I can do that.