Last week I had an assignment to photograph a local high school football player who’s first name is Hardcor. As in “Hardcore…” The young man, Hardcor Coleman is a senior linebacker and tight
end at Newburgh Free Academy, known for his hard-nosed style of play, and bone crushing hits. Since the weather wasn’t too cooperative, and hadn’t been all week with heavy rain at times and mostly overcast, I realized I’d need to put a light on him to try and make a decent portrait or two that would sort of help reveal his personality. I also didn’t want to be relegated into making a portrait indoors in a locker or weight room. Most football portraits always seem to work better outside, on location. 
Long story short – I know the head coach and after briefly talking with him before practice, and meeting his star linebacker, we proceeded to make a few “quick & dirty” portraits with my one light portable strobe setup (at right). I even utilized a small spray bottle to simulate sweat on his brow, uniform and arms. A lens change to the longer zoom for the full length image (above) worked well I thought, after I’d shown him the tighter portraits (above at right). He was pleasant and very respectful, which made for a fun shoot for both of us. The whole shoot took about 10 – 15 minutes, just before another downpour during practice. ~cg.
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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