A Portrait of a Triathlete or Two.

This portrait session, as I mentioned yesterday in my how-to video, is of my nephew Mitchel, who is competing as a triathlete and is currently on his way to Australia for the world competition.  During our portrait shoot, we made sure to get images of him running, biking and swimming as well as the everyday portrait shots.  We even included his cousin Brigham, who is also a triathlete and competed at worlds the year before and who is now in Mexico serving as a missionary there.  So when you see the second athlete, that is who you are seeing.  These two boys are incredible young men who have been training together for years, waking up at 4 in the morning to swim or run or bike.  That kind of dedication and perseverance on the part of a teenager is rare and worth celebrating.  So I celebrate it in the best way I know how: photographs.

We spent the day moving between Gilbert and then out to the canyon lakes area outside the Phoenix area to photograph the lake shots and those on the canyon roads for the road biking shots.  Mitchel is on the Hamilton High School Swim Team, so we took some shots there in Chandler at the high school aquatic center as well.  We really moved around a lot that day, but we do whatever we need to to get the right shots.

Making a senior portrait is more than just taking beautiful photos of a high school senior wearing their school jersey or standing in front of a textured wall.  Every time I photograph a high school senior, I meet with them and discuss what is important to them, what makes them tick… and then I develop a production schedule for the day of the portrait session with the right props, the right activities, and the best locations to make the perfect portraits.  I want to make images that are meaningful to the student and their family.  But in addition to all of that, I want them to have a great experience while we are making the images.  It is a big production!  We have a lot of fun throughout the day.

As with all productions, there are a lot of stories on how we got various shots.  The photographers who are reading this will be interested in technical things like f-stops, light modifiers, and lenses.  But the rest of you will probably be more interested in the funny, interesting efforts made to make images like the ones at the lake.  At one point I was trying to get the splash that would occur as Mitchel would be running out of the lake, but the real splash wasn’t cutting it, so I ended up kicking water with one foot, balancing on the other and shooting the shot at the same time.  It took a lot of shots to get the right amount of splash!

Well, this is me, wishing Mitchel the best of luck at the world competition in Australia.

I am using a song by Krysta Youngs (one of my favorites on Triple Scoop) which is licensed by Triple Scoop Music through their new unlimited subscription membership.  I know, I have already used it once before in my 30 Days project, but I loved it so much and I wanted to try it out on a Senior Portrait.  I can always make another slideshow with the same images with a completely different song some other day. 

Go to www.triplescoopmusic.com to learn more about an unlimited membership.

This video is part of my 30 Days Project in connection with Triple Scoop Music’s new Pro Photographer’s unlimited Music Subscription Service.  The music makes the presentation and no service is better than Triple Scoop Music with thousands upon thousands of quality songs from independent music artists in every genre.  Enjoy this how-to video on making a Slideshow with Animoto.  The slideshow is shown at the very end of this how-to video.  I will post the slideshow on its own tomorrow.

Music in this video licensed through www.triplescoopmusic.com

This slideshow was made with Animoto’s online slideshow making tool.  The simplicity of uploading the images and song and letting Animoto do the work is quite appealing when you are as busy as I am.  Each slideshow can have one of a long list of styles.  This style is called “Chic.”  I am typically a very simple “documentary style” slideshow maker, but this one works really well for a senior portrait.

Speaking of music, this whole 30 Days project is possible because of Triple Scoop Music’s new subscription-based service which allows users to pay one monthly fee rather than per song.  If you are producing projects and need music, I highly recommend Triple Scoop Music.  The service is full of great original songs from independent artists.  License one song at a time, or sign up for the subscription service and use as many songs as you need, whenever you need them.  Learn more at www.triplescoopmusic.com

Unlimited music licensing plans are normally $995 per year and up.  However, right now, for a limited time, there is special pricing! Get yours for just $499 per year (annual billing) or $49 per month when you sign up this month.  If you only use one new song each month, you will save $221 this year.  At those prices, I will save $1,301 this month alone!  That’s pretty amazing.  Choose all the music you need all year long. Choose from over 35,000 hand-picked songs and soundtracks.  Click here to learn more: www.triplescoopmusic.com

Use the code “JAREDPLATT18” and save an extra 10% on your music membership!

You can follow this project here, or on my blog at www.jaredplatt.com/blog.  If you are a Vimeo fan, you can watch this project unfold at my Vimeo Album: https://vimeo.com/album/5227999

For a complete list of my equipment, you can go to B&H Photo Video.  https://bhpho.to/2Kx88bl

@Triple Scoop Music @triplscoopmusic #triplescoopmusic #musicLicensing #PhotographyLessons #jaredplatt #photography

#canonUSA @CanonUSA

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