by Gary Fong
Photographer: Aaron Hardin, http://aaronhardinmedia.wordpress.com/
Figure 1 Figure 2
Last week, we look at Aaron Hardin’s, yet to be solidified second-generation, alternative country, barroom rock musician project. It’s good for every photographer to explore areas of the craft not yet discovered. It builds versatility and diversity in coverage.
His set of sports portraits is another facet of flexibility. Shooting portraits is not simply getting a nice smile. It’s providing the viewer visual context to who this person is…a ballet dancer, a politician, or a famous sports athlete.
Aaron shot a series of sports athletes in Tennessee. The issue is making each image unique to his/her particular event. The tools in his arsenal are lighting, perspective, and imagination.
Now for the Nit Picking
It’s not enough to show what these athletes look like…but what aspect of their particular sport they excel. Each image needs to be self-contained, conveying enough visual information to satisfy the viewer questions.
Figure 3 Figure 4
When looking at (Figure 1), the viewer understands “Tennis” star. When looking at (Figure 2), the viewer understands “Basketball” star, etc. Aaron’s style is very direct. Sometimes hitting the viewer over the head is the best way to get his/her attention.
Another way to appreciate his directness…when viewers are surrounded by a plethora of media from everywhere, a strong direct approach has its merits. It’s the voice heard above the chatter.
Imagination has its advantages too. When lighting doesn’t happen before one’s lens, one has to build it for the shoot. The dual side lighting in (Figure 3) doesn’t usually happen in the middle of a track and field stadium. Nor does the stroboscope affect on the basketball player (Figure 4). It’s imagination and a set of lights that makes these images happen. I’ll give a grudging “nice shoot” Aaron.
If I had one criticism of the project, why didn’t you use your bicep-enhancement filter?
