Quince Portraits: Mia

Ahh to be a teenager again. These first portraits were shot at the Boca Raton Resort and also the Resort's Beach Club. At the beach we were joined by all of Mia's friends. It was an interesting scene as I was photographing Mia on the rocks and I turned around to my own photo shoot with all of her friends taking pictures of me.

The second location is an auditorium at the Boca Raton Community Hospital. We had originally planned to use the theater at Mia's school, but we're unable to get approved through administration. The auditorium itself is quite drab, so I limited the images to the stage itself. For the more environmental images I used the house lights and added a hair light. For the closer in portraits I also used a shoot through umbrella for fill, still using the front spotlight as the main light. 

Crawfish Festival 2010 in Orlando

Great times. Good people. As you can tell from the photos, everyone was in party mode at the Crawfish Festival in Orlando. I visited for Memorial Day weekend and had a blast. It's been years since I've made a visit to Orlando and it was good to catch up.

It is probably the best set of photos I have taken with a drink in my hand.

 Here are some of my favorites:

 

Here is the full gallery. Order a print if you'd like

Retro Portrait

A retro portrait was another assignment for my Consumer Photography class. It is reminiscent of the 1940's. I was influenced by images from the era, especially photographer George Hurrell. My friend Kevin, who is signed with Caroline Gleason Management, modeled for me. The portraits were shot with gridded strobes for the main and hair light with the fill provided by a strobe bounced into a large white board.

Jiu-Jitsu Instructor: Illustrative Portrait

I shot with Patrick for my illustrative portrait assignment I had in my Consumer Photography class. The category of illustrative portrait gave me freedom to apply my editorial style to a portrait that would be flattering for Patrick. Patrick teaches Jiu-Jitsu at Prime Time Sports in Boca Raton, FL. He is really laid back but you can tell the guy can kick some ass. My biggest challenge with this shoot was how to light the background. The padded wall had texture, but was also highly reflective. For some I used an SB 800 to spotlight on the background, some have two lights crossed on the background for a more even look, and for the more dramatic shots I went with no direct light on the background.

One of the things you have to keep in mind about shooting for consumers is the fact that for the most part, the end result of your images will be a 5x7 or 8x10 print. For class, we are turning in an 8x10 matted print. Here's my choice.

Some more posed portraits

Although Jiu-Jitsu is based on grappling, Patrick was able to bring a sword that he had won in a contest.

The composition and pose for this image was what motivated me to do this shoot. 

Patrick asked me to shoot him in a more tradition Jiu-Jitsu pose. 

Class 310: Seal Strong Nation Challenge

I am leaning more and more towards the editorial side of photography and this was a personal project to develop my photojournalism portfolio. The Seal Strong Nation Challenge is a 36 hour test of physical and mental endurance. The instructors, former Seals and Marines, put the challengers through hell. The challenge gives those who enter a taste of what it would be like to go through the Seal's week long entry test, B.U.D.S.

I really enjoyed spending time with the challengers and their instructors. I spent around a total of 12 hours with the challengers over a the 36 hour challenge. As I went to bed each night I lay in bed thinking that the challengers were probably freezing in the surf or doing push up after push up.  I definitely have respect for the challengers and what they put their bodies through. I couldn't imaging laying in the surf in 60 degree water with just your skivvies on.

This is the book I put together for the project through Blurb to get an idea of the final product. Unfortunately you can only see the first 15 pages.

Class 310 by Alex Markow | Make Your Own Book

My favorite

Here are the images from start to finish