This wonderful young man named Dylan from the Lee’s Summit North High School varsity football team stopped by to get some portraits in his gear, and in the process reminded me of how much I enjoy photographing high school athletes. I love commemorating this time in their lives that they’re dedicating to a sport they enjoy so much. In many cases, their hard work, focus, and skill allows them incredible opportunities in college, which is so exciting! And when they step into my studio, it’s an opportunity for me to challenge myself to create more unique and dramatic lighting setups that set the mood for the image. Plus, we have things like footballs and helmets and such to use as props during the session, which is also fun!
For the studio portion of our shoot, I chose to use a gray backdrop, for its ability to appear as varying degrees of gray, all the way to complete black, depending on my lighting angles and camera settings. It allows me to quickly change the look of the photo, which gives us more versatile looks throughout the session – some traditional, and some more dramatic.
I am really excited about how these pictures turned out. I hope I’ll see more athletes in the studio and on the field this year to create some unique portraits for them to enjoy for years to come!
Good luck in the rest of your season, Dylan. Go Broncos!