2020 PORTRAIT SESSION OF THE VFW MEMBERS
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- Diaz Designz: VFW Portraits
Objective
The objective was to tell a story through portrait photography of the veterans of the Whitman Post 697. They each have different backgrounds because of the different military experiences in their respective military branches, but now wear the same uniform.
My Inspiration
There is great admiration in black-and-white portrait photography because of the amount of detail and expression it portrays. Two of the greatest modern photographers are Mark Mann and Lee Jeffries. These two photos displayed below are what motivated Diaz Designz to shoot the portraits in the similar style for the VFW members of Post 697.
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- Diaz Designz: Photography
Mark Mann’s work is an inspiration because he shoots photos that demonstrate deep shadows and detailed texture. As seen in this photo of Oliver Stone is how Mark Mann captured the mysterious tone in the eyes and the shadows leading from the foreground towards the background. Playing with shadows can be a very difficult task because lighting can be tricky in certain environments.
Lee Jeffries is also an inspiration because of the way he can capture emotion through the eyes. The black-and-white helps demonstrate the reality of time. Using mostly natural light in most of his photography, it allows the shadows to pop within each wrinkle each faces he captures. The combination of texture within the wrinkles, and the story told by the eyes are what make his photography so impactful.
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- Diaz Designz: Photography
Equipment
- Camera: Canon 77D DSLR
- Lens: EFS 18mm-135mm
- Other Equipment: Manfrotto Tripod
- Location: Whitman VFW Post 697
Editing Assets
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Lightroom
Capturing their Story…
This is me, the owner of Diaz Designz, I was given the privilege to be the Commander of the VFW Whitman Post 697 for the year 2018- 2019. As I got to know all of the members at the post, I realized that I wanted to do something special for them with a couple of photography techniques that I learned while I attended New England Institute of Technology. I love taking black-and-white photos because they express a different feeling which color cannot formulate. My goal was to show each of their individual stories without having to express with words.
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- Diaz Designz: Photography
Execution
With a single chair displayed next to a glass door during peak sunlight hours, iit became the best setting for this VFW portrait project.The veterans at in darkness while the sunlight did all of the lighting work. The post-edits were accomplished by using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.
