Canada Games Portraits-Chef du Mission Jennifer Bent Richard

The final shoot in the series of Canada Games Athletes is of chef-du-mission Jennifer Bent Richard.

As she wasn't an athlete, but more the head of the whole New Brunswick team, I asked that she bring some NB stuff, including a flag.

Canada Games Athlete Portraits-Beach Volleyball Player Jill Blanchard

Today's athlete portrait is of Canada Games women's beach volleyball player Jill Blanchard. This was the final shoot done for the series, and it was a great way to end it.

Before you get too exciting, you won't see the normal photographs that get taken with women's beach volleyball. If you don't know what I mean, just type "beach volleyball" in Google images.

Canada Games Athlete Portraits-Baseball Player Sean Silliphant

Today's portrait is of baseball player Sean Silliphant.

Similar set up as many of the other images. Set the subject up in front of a bright background, expose for the background to make them a silhouette, and add light on them with the flash.

Canada Games Athletes-Swimmer Jacqueline Murchison

Today's Canada Games athlete portrait is of swimmer Jacqueline Murchison.

I wanted to start off with some portraits outside the pool. Figured it would be easier to shoot them first, that way she wouldn't get all wet and have to stand around.

Canada Games Athletes-Rower Keegan Drummond

Today's portrait shoot is of Canada Games rower Keegan Drummond. With my previous water based shoot experience, I realized that I needed MORE POWER if I was going to be able to light up Keegan while he was in the water.

Canada Games Athletes-Wrestler Megan Getchell

Today's portrait is of Canada Games wrestling team member Megan Getchell. This was another indoor portrait, which as previously mentioned, can be beneficial as you have total control over the light.

Canada Games Athletes-Volleyball's Chika Ikejiani

Today's athlete portrait is of volleyball player Chika Ikejiani.

Chika's a great guy, and I owe him a lot of thanks for his patience and the stupid amount of work it took to get this shot. You will understand why I need to thank him soon...

Canada Games Athletes-Tennis player Daniel Blake

Today's shoot is of Canada Games Tennis player Daniel Blake. Another shoot where I had an idea of the shot I wanted...the player leaping through the air, stretched out, smashing the ball...

Canada Games Athletes-Kayaker Sean Wells

Today's Canada Games Athlete is kayaker Sean Wells, who was motivated to make the team to make his late father proud. Since there was a bit more emotion to the story, I wanted to come up with shots that could convey that kind of mood.

Canada Games Athletes-Runner Barry Britt

Today's athlete shoot is of runner Barry Britt. I've photographed Barry more than a few times, mainly during actual races, and man, can this guy run. He always seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of his fellow racers coming into the finish line.

Canada Games Athletes-Diver Christian Zehmer and Kirsten MacDonald

Today's portraits are of divers Christian Zehmer and Kirsten MacDonald, taken at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre in Saint John. Again, a two person shoot made me have to think about to come up with some good compositions. I started off with each of them standing on a diving board.

Canada Games Athletes-Cyclist Justin Theriault

Today's athlete is cyclist Justin Theriault, who I photographed outside the Telegraph-Journal office in Saint John.

Canada Games Athletes-Soccer's Cassian Ferlatte and Marisa Duguay

This was the second shoot done for this series, this time it is soccer players Cassian Ferlatte and Marisa Duguay.
As previously mentioned, the first day of shooting was an overcast day. Which is good in that the light is lower and makes for better flash control, but the skies tend to be gray and boring. When I started this whole series, I took the time to find out who I was shooting and tried to come up with ideas beforehand. 

Canada Games Athletes-Softball player Sam DeBortoli

Today's athlete shoot is of softball player Sam DeBortoli.
This was the second baseball/softball related shoot that I did, so I started up with something different.

Canada Games Athletes-Golfer Jennifer Armstrong

Today's Canada Games Athlete portrait is of golfer Jennifer Armstrong. This was actually the first shoot done for this series. I shot her at the Riverside Golf and Country Club where she is a member.

Canada Games Athletes-Basketball player Laura McCaffrey

Today's New Brunswick Canada Games team member is basketball player Laura McCaffrey. Being indoors gives you total control over the light, as you can use the flashes at higher power levels to overpower the ambient light, or turn the lights down or off indoors!

Canada Games Athletes-Sailors Alex Black and Kelvin Gilliland

The second portrait in the series is of Team New Brunswick sailors Alex Black(l) and Kelvin Gilliland, one of the few multi-person shoots. They can be a bit of a challenge as you are trying to get both people into the composition along with the equipment/background, etc that tells their story.

1st Canada Games Portraits-Nicole Barry and Marlene Vaughan

The New Brunswick Canada Games athlete articles have started, so I can now start posting some pix from the shoots. The first story is about Nicole Barry, who is playing on the women's softball team for this year's games in Prince Edward Island, and her grandmother Marlene Vaughan, who competed in softball in 1969.

The idea for this series was to do really cool portraits, which meant being able to take the time to do it right. Even before the shoot I tried to think up ideas for each athlete that would be better than the normal shots we take. This meant using flash, poses, and backgrounds in a more creative way.

Coming soon...Canada Games Athlete Portraits

Over the past two weeks or so I've been fortunate to be working on a special project for the Telegraph-Journal, shooting cool portraits of athletes that will be heading to PEI next month for the Canada Games. I'm really psyched and can't wait!

I can't show you any photos yet, but they will begin running in the paper on July 24th, and as soon as the shots of each athlete run I will be posting the shots(including others that don't run) and hope to be doing a blog post about each one talking about how the shots were done. Big thanks to my assistant, Tanner Cheeseman(the gentleman on the left of the photo who is ensuring that $2000 of canon flashes don't fall into the Kennebecasis...already did that with a $2000 lens, thank you...), for all his help!

So, stay tuned!