Football playmaker

The football playmaker for the 2007 season is Mike Bechina (BA-KEEN-A) of Pueblo Centennial High School.

Mike was very open to the ideas that I had for his portrait. The sportswriter who selected informed me that Mike is not only a football player and a 4.0 student, but he also plays guitar in a band that specializes in classic rock and roll music. The light bulb above my head instantly lit up.

I have been looking for an excuse to do a portrait of someone in mid-flight doing what I call the “Eddie Van Halen Jump” for a long time. This was my chance. To aid Mike in doing the jump I went to a local sporting goods store and purchased a mini trampoline.

The idea was to get Mike to jump on the tramp and do the jump while wearing his varsity football uniform and holding his guitar. I set things up in the studio at the paper and used Nikon speedlights instead of the big studio strobes that are on a track system in the studio. I did this because the speedlights allow me the ability have more precise control of the light.

I used four speedlights. I used snoots on three of them to prevent too much light spill. The set up was tight as our studio isn’t all that big. I was against the back wall of the studio and Mike was nearly out-jumping the background. All in all it went well and with a little coaching on the body position I needed from him we were able to get the above photo.

I think that by the time we were finished, Mike was really starting to get into the rock’n roll mentality. I think it shows in the photo. Rock on Mike!