Sometimes when you start to earning a paycheck with your camera you forget why you like to take photos. At the urging of a friend I've decided to start a personal project to make using the camera fun and creative again for myself. I've decided to recruit some of the kids that I photograph in sporting events and put together 100 creative sports portraits over the course of the next year or so. Last night I did my first session. These are quick less then 30 minute shoots at no charge to the athletes and their parents and they get one digital file for signing the release for me to use in my portfolio and advertising. I didn't realize it would be so fun to get creative again without getting paid. Anyway here are two from the session last night.
In a way it's my own personal "Digital Photo Challenge"
I encourage each of you to start a personal long goal project and remember why you love using the camera.
Those are great. I'd be interested in the light setup, especially for the second one. I want to get into portable light.
Louis thanks. These are both shot with two SB900's with CTO gels on them and one SB28 also with a CTO Gel. Manual power varied depending on ambient and effect I was looking for and fired with Alien Bee Cybersyncs. Thanks for looking.
Very cool Matt! I just have to do something... More poor camera has basically been hibernating with the long winter and crazy work hours. Great shots BTW!
Thanks everyone, I'll update this now and then when I add new ones to the set. I'm hoping to hit every sport I cover over the next year. And I'm hoping to learn a lot about myself and try some new things with lighting and posing along the way in my journey.
I like the shots so far Matt. They've got a nice flair added to them. It's also nice to see you do this, because perhaps the biggest reason I haven't entirely given much thought to doing much professional work is because I didn't want to get to the point where I wasn't doing things I wanted, or enjoyed, but you've shown that it is possible to do both, as well.
I like the shots so far Matt. They've got a nice flair added to them. It's also nice to see you do this, because perhaps the biggest reason I haven't entirely given much thought to doing much professional work is because I didn't want to get to the point where I wasn't doing things I wanted, or enjoyed, but you've shown that it is possible to do both, as well.
Don't get me wrong I LOVE what I do, I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I wasn't shooting sports like I am now. It's a thrill every time I go. But I realized I was doing less and less of what I used to do just for me. With some prodding I'm going to do a lot more of it. It's easy to get burned out and lose sight of why you enjoyed something when it becomes more than just a hobby. I want to make sure i don't have that happen to me, likely another reason I'll never do it full time.
Tonight I didn't have the sky gods with me, nothing but blue skies and sunshine. So I did what I could do. The parent was happy and the kid was thrilled. I'm happy with them, just didn't knock it out of the park(pun intended) as I had hoped too.
I don't know about the sky gods; The clear blue sky works well for a young kid with high hopes. Plus you made it work with the uniform color. For me, it works.
Thanks, this will be the last ones for a week or so, time to go back to work using the camera for a bit, but over the next year I hope to make it to 100 Portraits and am going to try and make a mosaic with them into an advertising campaign of sorts.
Tonight I didn't have the sky gods with me, nothing but blue skies and sunshine. So I did what I could do. The parent was happy and the kid was thrilled. I'm happy with them, just didn't knock it out of the park(pun intended) as I had hoped too.
seriously???
i wish i could make my photos look like that... you have high standards.
Tonight I didn't have the sky gods with me, nothing but blue skies and sunshine. So I did what I could do. The parent was happy and the kid was thrilled. I'm happy with them, just didn't knock it out of the park(pun intended) as I had hoped too.
seriously???
i wish i could make my photos look like that... you have high standards.
When I go to do one of these sessions I have an image in my mind that I want to create, when I don't achieve that image in some way(in this case I wanted big white puffy clouds in the sky as well) I don't think I have done what I set out to do. I'm happy with the images, they just aren't at the level I set, but it was something I couldn't control.
Michelle I wasn't happy with that background on that image, but posted it for the dad, he and I are old friends from HS and I shot that after the session was over just as a Candid, but his dad saw it and liked it.
