Its that time of year again for going back to school. The great thing about going back to school is high school sports. I recently worked with the senior athletes at North Duplin High School. 

I try to make every year a little different than the last, so the athletes can have their own unique look. This year I decided to use a filter that is placed over my lens, that creates a sense of motion. For instance, if a player was holding a basketball, it would make the basketball look as if it was streaking or being passed to another player. The filter also creates a few copies of the athlete to the left and to the right in the image. I also used a green gel on the light that was behind the players, to give them a little separation from the dark background.

I let the players choose their own posing, within the parameters of creating a banner. I had to remind the athletes to keep their posing as narrow as possible, because they were going to be on a two foot wide banner. That meant keeping their arms as close to their torso as possible. 

A few of the players had brought their own props for the banners. As you can see, on the banner to the left, they used some really thick chain wrapped around their upper body. The chain had to weigh at least fifty pounds. The most interesting prop  of the day, was a player who brought a box of pancake mix and a bottle of syrup. It was fun to see the mix of creativity from these athletes.

North Duplin is always great to work with and I look forward to many more great athletic portraits for the remainder of the year.

If you're a school or an athletic director who wants sports portraits that are above and beyond your competitors, then contact me. I'll see if I can fit your school on my calendar.