I’m falling increasingly in love with portrait sessions. A lot can be said about a great portrait session. If the photographer and the subject are on the same page the chances are the portrait session will end with some really great results. I recently had an experience like that with local comedian Anthony Rizzo. (more…)
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Portrait Session: Anthony Rizzo – Funnyman
Runway 5 – Reflections and Recap
Yesterday the Buffalo State College Fashion Technology department presented Runway 5.0 – their annual runway fashion show event, this year in its fifth installment. I had the opportunity to be backstage at Runway 5.0 shooting in, what I call, my studio in a box – a roll of white seemless vinyl and a three light setup.
I truly thrive on events like Runway 5.0, especially from a photography standpoint. I shot 115 models yesterday in a very short timespan. I didn’t have a lot of time with each of them and had to adjust quickly to any technical issues that arose – lucky for me those were minimal. (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Thanks for that forearm.”
As we wrap the weeklong coverage of FC Buffalo’s delightfully friendly relationship the Erie Admirals we end it with this image. I’ve posted a lot of photos from the FC Buffalo archive of players jumping for a header. I’ve probably posted too many, but I find the action element in them interesting. As we’ve seen in the imagery this week, FC Buffalo has had some physical battles with Erie. The physicality of these matches, however, was never blatant agression from one team onto another. This image of an Erie Admiral shoving his forearm to the back of an FC Buffalo players head was one example of blatant aggression during gameplay.
I tend to shoot in burst mode when shooting sports and I looked at the frames before and after the image I posted. FC Buffalo would have clearly intercepted the ball before Erie did and Erie ends up throwing the forearm like Lex Luger circa 1988. The forearm was uncalled for and resulted in a yellow card for Erie.
With that, we end our look at Erie for now. I’m sure we’ll be exploring Erie again, but it’s time we move on to other FC Buffalo archives. The Blitzers face Erie three times this year. Hopefully some of these images have gotten you pumped for the games at All High Stadium and hopefully you’ll be in The Situation Room participating in the cheers and trash talk that is bound to happen this season. The first game between FC Buffalo and Erie will take place June 8th at All High Stadium. If you’re going to be talking about the game on twitter make sure you tag it with #EradicateErie.
Also, FC Buffalo has some new merch this season and will be releasing even more merch in the coming days and weeks. Make sure you check out their online store and pick up some swag.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll be featuring a few day/weeklong look at the FC Buffalo fans. Hopefully that’s enjoyable to readers.
UNT, Nb
Portrait Session: Gina Maramag, Community Marketer
In December I sent out a tweet asking if anyone wanted to do a portrait session together as a way for someone to get a new portrait, for me to test some new equipment, and get to know one of my followers. A couple days went by without a response so I figured I would by testing out new gear on the family dog again, and then I received a message from Gina Maramag asking if the offer still stood. After some wrangling of our busy holiday season schedules we finally had a chance to meet up at my old studio at the Wurlitzer Building.
I hadn’t met Gina prior to our portrait session. I believe she started following me on twitter after one of my nonsensical tweets was retweeted by someone. The only thing I knew about Gina prior to our portrait session was that she worked in design and marketing in Buffalo, I didn’t know for who nor did I inquire in our pre-shoot correspondance because then all my chit-chat topics would be thrown out the window.
As we were corresponding before the portrait session I asked her to bring a favorite object, or something that defined her to the session. With this particular series of portait sessions I’m doing I ask the subject to bring in an object that they’re associated with or have a passion for. I’ve begun doing sessions with a lot of people from twitter and one of the aspects of twitter that stands out is how people are associated with certain jobs or hobbies. In other sessions the people I’ve shot brought in knives, cats, snowboards, wacom tablets and so on. Gina never told me what she was bringing in for our portrait session. Little did I know that her defining object would be taller than she was…
Gina collects wisks. Not only does Gina collect wisks, but she has a wisk that’s about as tall as she is. When I went down to the parking lot of the studio to meet her, to say I was surprised she was holding a four foot (and change) wisk was an understatement. With that, the photographer in me was super siked that I get to photograph a life sized wisk for a portrait session.
Without revealing all the deepest, darkest secrets Gina revealed to me in her acquisition of this wisk I can reveal that no one was injured in the acquiring of it.
Giant wisks aside, my portrait session was a great experience. Gina opened up and discussed what it was like to work for Hospice of Buffalo from a marketing point of view. Prior to my portrait session with Gina my view of Hospice was probably similar to a lot of other peoples view. I never really took into consideration the amount of branding and hard work is required for a company like Hospice. For me, and my experience in life, Hospice was always associated with the sadness of a loved ones final days.
After my portrait session with Gina my outlook on the organization lightened up a little bit and I’ve grown to have admiration and respect for how hard they work on marketing this important organization. I invite readers to check out the Hospice website and see for yourself.
The portrait session with Gina went great. She’s a great personality to know, and very fun to have a conversation with. Give her a follow on twitter, especially if you like tweets about handling clients in the design and marketing world.
UNT, Nb
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Onward & Upward”
The folks in The Situation Room have it easy during an FC Buffalo game at All High Stadium. They get to sit in the shade and enjoy the breeze blowing up the bleachers while I’m roasting my rear end on the field. You can always tell when I’m shooting sideline at an FC Buffalo game at All High because: (more…)
Portrait Session: Nicole Schuman & Schushine Communications
Nicole Schuman is a content curator and social media guru in Buffalo, NY. I first met her through her twitter handle, @buffalogal and met her in person at Social Media Day last June. She confused me with local twitter icon The Amherst Bear, which for some reason happens all the time to me. At any rate Nicole is extraordinary example if a young Buffalo entrepreneur simply looking to leave her mark in a city that is redefining itself. On a whole, Buffalo is a very old city. We still get our news from the daily news paper or nearest watering hole. We collectively sit around and discuss “the way things were” and stonewall progress entrepreneurs want to make. (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – Exit Stage Left
As we continue to explore the rivalry between FC Buffalo and the Erie Admirals it’s time to tell the story on how one of FC Buffalo’s owners was ejected from the game. FC Buffalo’s ownership is really interesting and inspiring group of guys who not only love bringing soccer to Buffalo but also have an undeniable passion for our city. This group of guys are not simply owners who sit around and let other people do all the work. These guys are running the PA, selling merch, selling concessions, running after loose balls and a dozen other jobs that you won’t be seeing Ralph Wilson ever do (even in his prime). (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Two Guys…One Ball”
We continue to explore the very loving relationship between FC Buffalo and the Erie Admirals from the 2011 NPSL season. If you’ve been following the posts for the last couple day’s you’ll know the reoccuring theme that these two teams and fans generally don’t like each other. If you’re just reading about this rivalry you should check out my other posts, but in a nutshell The Situation Room and FC Buffalo fans as a whole dislike Erie. (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Please…Run me over.”
There’s nothing like a good collision at an FC Buffalo match to get you pumped for the season opening. We explore the Erie Admirals vs. FC Buffalo archives again to bring you this image of an Erie Admiral “accidentally” colliding into one of our very own FC Buffalo Blitzers. Yes there’s nothing like a knee to the groin to keep things interesting on the field at All High Stadium. (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Ninja Block”
I think all fans in The Situation Room will regard the Erie Admirals as FC Buffalo’s biggest rival in the NPSL Matches between FC Buffalo and Erie are always physical, competitive and entertaining and usually tainted with poor officiating. As I mentioned in a couple of my Lord Bedlington Cup posts, being on the sideline during FC Buffalo games is very interesting because you hear everything being said on the field. (more…)
FC Buffalo Preseason Blitz – “Don’t Kick Me Bro!”
As I wrap up this series of FC Buffalo vs. Bedlington Terriers FC images (for now) I have to leave you with this image. One of the things I quickly realized whilst shooting for FC Buffalo is how fast the action is, and how ridiculous some of the moments you capture are. (more…)
A Day in December Shooting at the WNYBAC…
In December I was asked by a client to spend some time at WNYBAC, the Western New York Book Arts Center. As someone who enjoys the craft of typography and graphic print design I embarrassingly have to admit that I hadn’t been to WNYBAC before, which is why I jumped at the chance to shoot the assignment. (more…)
