Sometimes things come out of the blue and turn out to be really good opportunities. A friend from my Krav Maga class has, amongst other things, a business selling "Sheath" sports underwear. He asked could I do him a favour and take some pictures for him. He had persuaded the boxer Brian Rose to model for him so early on a Saturday morning I went to his gym in the centre of Blackpool. My normal genre of photography is street and I have done some portraits before but this was a bit different. I looked on the internet for some great examples of this kind of work and took a little inspiration but wanting to be properly prepared, I sketched a few poses and stances in my notebook so I would not get "photographer's block" on the day. I think my skills as an artist require further refinement but at least my renditions were more than stickmen.
The gym itself presented some interesting angles as there was a boxing ring in the centre of it. The lighting was a little more tricky with bright spotlights everywhere. Down one side of the room were some large windows so some natural light shots would also be possible. Brian was a good model and obviously used to being in front of the camera. I wanted to take some shots aimed for my friend's purposes but also capture a few others including some headshots and some sparring. Overall, we got a good result and the best ones looked good in both colour and black and white. I used a 50mm lens throughout.
My preparation sketches - with apologies to Leonardo Da Vinci
Portrait