Category Editorial

Capturing Spontaneity: Photographing First Lady Jill Biden’s Visit

April 11, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Client Work, Editorial, Marketing, On Assignment, Showcase

As a longtime newspaper photojournalist, I’ve covered my fair share of visiting dignitaries, from President George Bush (’44) to U.S. Senators and others. But, as I learned the hard way on assignment for the Arizona State University school paper, the State Press, showing up late means the Secret Service won’t let you in, even if you ask really nicely.

So, when I was recently assigned to cover First Lady Jill Biden’s brief visit to Southern Maine Community College for the Maine Community College System, I made sure to arrive early. These events are highly scripted, with an advance team marking out where the media will stand, cordoned off well away from the First Lady. Each photo opportunity has been planned, with impactful visuals virtually guaranteed — as long as you show up on time — from the positions of the people to the carefully-placed American flags.

But, just because the stage is set doesn’t mean there isn’t room for spontaneity. As a photographer, my job was to capture the story and mood of the event, even within the constraints in place. I positioned myself strategically, changed compositions, and varied my lens choice to anticipate and capture those unscripted moments.

The result was a set of images that told a genuine story, full of spontaneous moments that spoke to the human emotions and connections present at the event. As a former newspaper photographer, I’m grateful for the laboratory that experience provided me that still allows me to capture moments even in highly-controlled settings.

Showcase: York County Community College

February 28, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Client Work, Editorial, On Location, Showcase

YVCC — *York County Community College, © Brian Fitzgerald*

Over the past few years, I’ve worked with the Maine Community College System (MCCS) to highlight the workforce training programs at their seven campuses across Maine. These programs are designed and targeted to the needs of employers in Maine and are often a pipeline directly to well-paying professional jobs immediately upon graduation. Programs are diverse, ranging from nursing and culinary arts to project management and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The list is endless and always changing to adapt to the needs of the state’s employers.

We highlighted a few of the workforce development programs at York County Community College last year and tried to also capture some of the sense of community and connection between students and their faculty. It was a great opportunity to tell a story about a Maine institution that offers such incredible value to the community.

*York County Community College, © Brian Fitzgerald*

Capturing Moments

February 7, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Editorial, Portraits

Photography is synonymous with light. In Greek, the word literally means to draw with light. No light, no photography.

But what truly elevates photography to a higher form of art is something else. If video and film are all about assembling a story, where all the parts contribute to the narrative, the still image is all about capturing a singular moment in time.

Of the thousands of images you’ve seen or created in your lifetime, which stand out as special? It’s likely those that capture an authentic, remarkable moment. Moments can be a shared interaction or a fleeting expression. Sometimes dramatic, sometimes subtle, their impact is immediate and profound. Moments connect with viewers and pull them in.

The legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called what he sought to capture as the Decisive Moment. Another way to say it: Don’t take photos. Capture moments instead.

The magic of creative constraints

April 27, 2022 0 Comments read Blog, Editorial, Marketing, Portraits, Recent Work, Shop Talk, Storytelling

Parivash Rohani, @Brian Fitzgerald

One of the best ways to engage one’s creativity is to first strip away options. Constraint, not necessity, is the mother of creativity.

For portrait photographers, the focus of the image is the subject. Yet background elements and interesting locations help to tell a story and can result in a more compelling portrait. They can also be a crutch. One piece of advice I give to aspiring portrait photographers: learn to shoot portraits with no background.

The artist Platon is famous for his high-key white seamless black and white portraits. They are so simple—just the subject, often shot with a very simple lighting setup—but each one tells a story and compels the viewer to linger over every portion of the frame.

When you strip away all of the choices, you focus on the essential. When you strip away the excess background elements, the focus is solely on the subject.

The photographer is forced to focus on connecting with the person being photographed and helping them to carry the weight of the image through expression and mood, captured in fleeting moments.

Creating a mood with cinematic portraits

April 12, 2022 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Editorial, Marketing, On Assignment

© Brian Fitzgerald

As a longtime commercial portrait photographer, I’m thrown into situations where a standard formal portrait isn’t called for. What’s needed is a portrait that focuses on a subject and has a more “cinematic”—a treatment and approach that may feel more ‘movie-like’, using precise lighting and positioning. The result is a dynamic, rich portrait with a contemporary feel that grabs attention.

The Decisive Portrait Moment

March 16, 2022 0 Comments read Blog, Editorial, Favorites, Inspirational

Maine Deputy

Photography is all about light, of course—the literal meaning of the word in Greek is ‘drawing with light’. Without light, there can be no photography.

But what makes photography remarkable and powerful is something else. While video and film are all about the story—how all the individual parts contribute to the narrative, the still image is all about moment.

Of the thousands of images you’ve seen or created in your lifetime, what makes the relatively few images stand out as special?

I’d bet it’s that these images capture a fleeting, authentic, remarkable moment. Moments can be a shared interaction between mother and daughter; they can be a simple expression in the eyes or on the lips. A moment can be a gesture, but it can also be a ray of sunlight hitting the perfect spot. It’s a person caught in mid-leap over a puddle, ala Bresson. It’s that peak moment of joy, of anguish, or of maximum exertion during a sporting event.

It can be hard to define in words what a photographic moment is, but you undoubtedly know it when you see it. Moments can be momentous or quiet and subtle. The impact of a true visual moment, however, is immediate and profound. It connects with the viewer and pulls them in.

If you want your images to be remembered, be attuned to what photography great Henri Cartier-Bresson termed the ‘Decisive Moment’. Don’t take photos: capture moments.

Cancer Today Magazine

January 26, 2022 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Editorial

If the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we are in this together.

We all could use a strong, supportive community that helps when times get tough. Nothing for me epitomizes the power of community to do good like Man Up To Cancer, a cancer support group for men started by my friend Trevor Maxwell.

Man Up To Cancer

Trevor and I have known each other since our newspaper days, but reconnected during the pandemic to work on a couple of creative projects. I’m proud and happy to share the results of our latest collaboration: a current cover feature on Trevor for Cancer Today magazine. You can read the digital version here.

In the article, Trevor talks about surviving stage IV cancer and his decision to reach out to other men who struggle with the disease. Men like him, who need support but find it difficult to reach out to others and ask for the help they need.

His community and podcast is two years old now. Cancer survivors around the country sport hats or shirts with the Man Up To Cancer ‘howling wolf’ logo. Trevor has turned a personally difficult, potentially tragic, situation into something that positively impacts others.

Or, as Trevor puts it: “When life gets hard, we all need our wolfpacks.”

Showcase: Mad Patti Hat Co.

June 14, 2021 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Editorial, Inspire Maine, Mainers at Work

Mad Patti Hat Co

A couple of months ago, just as the weather was warming up and widespread vaccinations were becoming the norm, I met and photographed Meg Patti, owner of Mad Patti Hat Company, at her studio in Brunswick, ME for the June issue of Down East Magazine.

Meg is a hat maker, which is kind of like saying Tesla is involved in the transportation business. While true, it doesn’t capture the detailed craftsmanship or the unique, one-of-a-kind hats that Patti hand-makes and ships to clients throughout the United States.

Part of her unique process is to ‘age’ each hat, giving each–as she says–their own stories. Lucky for me, that process involves at one stage the strategic application of fire to burn off the wool peach fuzz and create other effects that, once applied, make each hat a one-off instance of wearable art.

The profile is featured in the June, 2021 edition of Down East Magazine. Watch the video below to hear Patti talk about her creative process.

Hatmaker

Maine Gives Back, 2020 Edition

November 10, 2020 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Editorial, Mainers at Work, On Assignment, On Location

Linda Holtslander, 77, Preble Street Resource Center volunteer. ©Brian Fitzgerald

Fundamentally, making a difference starts with doing something that has an impact on someone else. This may entail something huge and world-changing (think of something like Matt Damon’s Water.Org), but more typically it’s a small kindness, a comment, a small gesture extended from one person to another. Small acts of this sort occur all around us, and they usually remain unseen and unknown except by those directly involved.

That’s why I loved being part of Down East Magazine’s annual “Maine Gives Back” feature published this November. I got to meet and photograph three remarkable Mainers whose efforts are changing the lives of others: 77-year-old soup kitchen volunteer Linda Holtsinger, who despite the pandemic never misses a day of volunteering; Rose Barboza, a mother who decided to create the nonprofit website Black Owned Maine as her contribution to racial and social justice; and Elizabeth McLellan, whose Portland-based nonprofit Partners for World Health distributes donations of needed medical supplies around the world.

Truly one of those assignments that energizes me and makes me feel better about humanity in general. Below are some of my images used in the issue, but read about many others in the November 2020 Down East Magazine feature, “Maine Gives Back”.

Elizabeth McLellan in a warehouse filled with medical supplies destined for countries in need around the world. © Brian Fitzgerald

Rose Barboza, founder of Black Owned Maine. © Brian Fitzgerald

Fighting Cancer with a Warrior Spirit

October 20, 2020 0 Comments read Blog, Editorial, Inspirational, Inspire Maine, On Assignment

Mostly we experience all three in succession—phases, rather than permanent states. That certainly seems to be true of my friend Trevor Maxwell, the founder of Man Up to Cancer, a support network to connect men dealing with the disease.

I’ve known Trevor since we both worked as journalists at the Portland Press Herald, now officially a Long Time Ago. At different points in time and independent of each other we both ended up leaving the paper, and our journalism careers, deciding to strike out on our own—me as a commercial photographer; Trevor as a communications and media consultant.

He discovered, like me, that with age comes inevitable physical changes and health challenges. Unlike me, he was faced with a true monster—a stage IV colon cancer diagnosis in 2018 at the age of 41.

As he related later, the diagnosis hit him hard, with depression so strong on top of the physical sickness that confined him to bed on most days. Eventually, he made a promise to his family that he would get the help he needed to regain his mental and physical health.

Two years later—and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, no less, Trevor launched Man Up To Cancer, along with a podcast that continues to grow and support men who, like Trevor, once felt isolated and alone in their struggle. The company’s howling wolf logo and tagline, “Open Heart, Warrior Spirit” speaks to Trevor’s approach, somewhat unique among cancer support groups that tend to be softer, more feminine and involve pink ribbons.

Clearly, Trevor has decisively moved into a phase of purposeful action, even as he continues treatment for his own cancer.

I photographed Trevor this summer near the grand oak tree that has stood on his family’s Cape Elizabeth property for decades (check out the moving, beautiful tribute created by Roger McCord). I’m inspired by seeing how far Trevor has come and how he’s made it his mission to help others using his own unique talents and voice.

In normal times that would be something special. In 2020, it seems downright heroic.

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Read more about Man Up to Cancer or subscribe to the Man Up to Cancer podcast.