This week I was assigned my second prep athlete of the week portrait. It was a particularly challenging portrait because of the sport and the season. My subject was a long jumper and I was photographing him on a day when Cheyenne was getting blasted by a few inches of snow in the morning. I decided to shoot him inside with the lights at full power to over power the ambient light, thus leaving a completely black background. The shoot took place in a gymnasium, but I wanted to keep it very clean since the background doesn’t contribute to his sport.
Prep Athlete of the Week
Cheyenne Central wrestler Bryce Meredith
I got the opportunity to shoot my first prep athlete of the week sportrait on Tuesday evening. Every week, the paper names an athlete from a local high school, which gives the photo staff a nice opportunity to go all-out on a sportrait. Given that it was my first one, I played it pretty safe and didn’t do anything too experimental out of the gate. It’s a pretty basic three-light setup with two back lights at 45 degree angles from the subject. The key light was shot through a gridded softbox from a 45 degree angle to the right next to the camera. The subject was a pretty nice guy who helped me unload the lights from my truck before the shoot and was extremely patient while I look about 20 minutes to set everything up.