Category Storytelling

The Messy Art of Connection

August 20, 2024 0 Comments read Blog, Creative, Inspirational, Personal, Storytelling

Photo studio — *Before the storm © Brian Fitzgerald*

Yesterday afternoon, I found myself randomly picking up photographic gear—a power cord here, a light meter there, a reflector, stowing a canvas backdrop—and I realized I was way too tired to finish.

I’d spent the last three hours photographing and interviewing a man I barely knew, diving into one of the most traumatic events of his life: his diagnosis and treatment for kidney cancer. It left him with a body carved by deep scars and other, less visible wounds. Every detail of his experience so firmly etched into his mind that he’ll never forget them—down to the type and order of food he had each time he was in the hospital. “It kind of feels like PTSD,” he said, with what could have been a smile—or maybe a wince. “That’s exactly what it is,” I replied.

Later as I packed up my gear, my studio looked like a camera shop after a direct hit by a tornado. I reflected on how fortunate I am each time I’m allowed, with my microphone and lens, into someone’s most private inner world. It’s a trust that’s both shocking and deeply humbling. Once you hear someone’s story, you become the keeper of a sacred trust. It’s now part of your story, and what you choose to do with it matters. When you connect with someone in this way, you’re left a bit raw and exposed. It’s messy, just like the chaos of my studio, filled with reminders of the session that just was. When you connect in this way—exchanging stories of truth—you’re both fully involved in creating a new story, a new understanding. I’m grateful to be connected in this way, both through the camera and in spite of it. What emerges, whatever else, is a truth.

This discipline, this art, this field is unlike any other. That’s why I still do it, day after day, decades after buying my first camera–a Pentax K1000, at K-Mart. The tools change, but the parts that matter still matter.

A Space Called Home: Joe Rosshirt

October 25, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Creating Spaces, Creative, Creativity, Mainers, Mainers at Work, Projects, Storytelling

Artist in his studio — *Joe Rosshirt, owner of FortHouse Studios. © Brian Fitzgerald*

“Kids from an early age all think they’re artists. They’ll raise their hands if you ask them in kindergarten class, says Joe Rosshirt. “Every year that goes by, less and less hands will come up, to a point where you’re self-conscious to put your hand up.”

Joe Rosshirt is an illustrator, animator and artist who operates FortHouse Studios out of his home studio in South Portland, Maine. Over the past 15 years, the Maine College of Art (MECA) graduate has worked with all types of clients incuding national and regional marketing agencies and sells his own creations at art festivals and other venues.

It’s a long way from his childhood, when he remembers doubting his dream of being an artist. “I thought, I shouldn’t be an artist because all artists are poor,” Rosshirt says. “You think that ‘starving artists’ is the one rule for artists. It’s a limiting belief.”

Rosshirt has operated out of other spaces, but this studio—he’s been here for about a year—is the first he’s owned. “I love the security. I don’t have to think where I’ll be next year. My rent’s not going up and I’m not getting pushed out. That was always a back-of-the-mind issue with all my other spaces,” he says.

Rosshirt’s previous studio was larger and ‘gorgeous’ but he says he realized after a few years that it wasn’t the space that made him an artist. “The space affects your creativity, turning into a creativity vacuum chamber. If you make the space your own, your ideas can live there. It feels like I can just access those ideas by being here.”

Rosshirt doesn’t have a set schedule, usually getting into the studio by 10 but often working odd hours. “I transition into work mode easily. Even in the middle of the night, I act on it,” he explains. “Nine-to-five never got me into a flow state. Lightning strikes of creativity can’t be predicted.” He adds: “The Stephen King style isn’t for me: ‘Show up, do work, get out.’ Not my approach.”

One of the things Rosshirt loves most about his work is going to art shows, where he sells directly to the public. “I have this tagline, ‘Make Happy Happen'”, he says. “I just want to spread smiles. That’s enough. I don’t need to make the sale.”

Creating Spaces is a project that explores the connection between Maine artists and craftsmen and their physical workspaces-—places that are often hallowed grounds of creativity and solitude, far from the public eye or the gallery.

What’s Your Problem?

August 29, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Marketing, Shop Talk, Storytelling, Video

Clients hire me for all sorts of reasons—often to create content for an ongoing campaign or to make their websites look more appealing. These situations involve parameters that are already set, and my task is to execute consistently with an established look or direction. It’s a valuable service and a useful skill for any visual professional. I’m grateful for that part of my business.

However, when clients ask me to help create a new campaign, a new style, or tell a story about their brand, it’s an entirely different level of creation, involvement, and trust.

Initiating any new visual project involves an exercise that cuts to the heart of things—to establish the story that most needs telling. Once that is done, actually telling the story becomes straightforward. Without this crucial step, it’s impossible to create anything cohesive or interesting.

This is particularly true with video. No one wants to watch a 10-minute video listing a company’s services or products. However, they may watch a video that impacts them, relates to them, or shows them something new. I ask questions like, ‘What is the number one problem you’d like to solve?’ For non-profits, it might be needing more donations. For some companies, it might be brand awareness. For others, it’s to highlight something that truly makes them unique.

I always seize the opportunity to be involved in the process of telling a story and crafting an approach that gets to the heart of what is important. There are plenty of tactical problems to solve when it comes to telling a story. The most important thing is to ask the right questions at the outset to clarify the expected results.

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From Cartoons to Glass: A Creative Maine Journey

August 22, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Creativity, Editorial, Inspirational, Mainers, Mainers at Work, Portraits, Storytelling

Maine Glassblower David Jacobson — David Jacobson, Glassblower, Belfast, Maine. © Brian Fitzgerald

David Jacobson was a freshman majoring in telecommunications at Kent State University in Ohio when he happened upon an outdoor glassblowing demonstration. “I knew at that moment that was something I needed to do,” he said.

It took a few years—and a few colleges—but Jacobson did end up studying for an MFA in glassblowing. He also became a professional editorial cartoonist for a Gannett newspaper in New York, where he is from, spending his career cartooning for various publications and with a full-time syndicated cartoon with United Media. Still, he found himself taking more glassblowing classes on the side. “Things were going well there. Yet it turned out that my cartooning supported my glass habit,” said Jacobson.

By 2003, Jacobson’s glass art was selling in galleries. He relocated to Montville, Maine that same year and did what Mainers do: cobbled together an income, by running a glass studio and a house-painting business.

He rebuilt his 200-year-old barn into a glass studio. “There was a lot of hard work, a lot of doubt, and a lot of moments thinking, ‘I’m the biggest idiot in the world.’ But the passion was always there and fortunately, the talent was always there too. I just kept meeting the right people and kept saying yes.”

Saying yes is what led Jacobson to co-found a studio with artist Carmi Katsir as part of the Waterfall Arts in Belfast. They built out the studio using much of Jacobson’s equipment from his old studio, adapting it to run off of vegetable oil and electricity—one of just a handful in the US. Now, Jacobson produces his own work and, together with Katsir and others, teaches hot glass classes to the public and to Belfast high school students.

David Jacobson, Glassblower, Belfast, Maine. © Brian Fitzgerald

Of the studio, owned by Waterfall Arts, Jacobson says that he’s grateful. “It allows me to do work that makes me the happiest I’ve ever been.”

As a creative business owner, Jacobson was used to being a lone wolf but is excited by the community aspect of the Waterfall Arts Glassworks. “One of the greatest assets of glassblowing is that it is community-oriented. People are trained to work with someone. So to come into this community situation is thrilling. It’s affected my work in that it’s given me great enthusiasm to try new things,” Jacobson said.

“It’s beyond any kind of vision that I ever had.”

David Jacobson, Belfast, Maine ©Brian Fitzgerald

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Find out more about the Waterfall Arts Glassworks or to sign up for a class at the only public-access glassblowing studio in Maine.

Creating Spaces is a project that explores the connection between Maine artists and craftsmen and their physical workspaces—places that are often hallowed grounds of creativity and solitude, far from the public eye or the gallery.

The Soul of Work: Unveiling Authentic Brand Culture

August 1, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Business, Marketing, Shop Talk, Storytelling

© Brian Fitzgerald

I’m not just a location portrait photographer. I’m a storyteller who crafts narratives that blend stills and motion. My interest lies somewhere even deeper: capturing the culture of work, the heart and soul that beats within every office, workshop, or studio.

It’s about more than just taking pictures. It’s about showing how people work in their environment, and revealing their authentic energy. Pulling back the curtain. Peering into the hidden machinery within, and revealing how the work gets done. That’s where the magic happens.

I thrive on telling the story of the ‘real’ company. No staged smiles. I’m talking about the laughter, the teamwork, the small moments that make a workplace come alive. The behind-the-scenes connections that feel real because they are real.

Brand image isn’t just about words or colors on a website. It’s far more profound and yet as simple as the feeling you get when you walk through the doors.

When you think about your brand, remember this: It’s more than a logo or a tagline. It’s a living, breathing entity. Don’t be afraid to show the world your company’s authentic personality.

© Brian Fitzgerald

Triumph Over Trauma: Isaac’s Journey

June 21, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Editorial, Inspirational, Personal, Portraits, Projects, Storytelling

Male Cancer Survivor — *Isaac, testicular cancer survivor. © Brian Fitzgerald*

A recurring theme in my work has been narrating the stories of those who battle adversity, survive and even thrive despite the trauma or disease they’ve encountered. This piece is part of an ongoing series featuring men who bear the physical scars of their trauma.

Isaac, a native of Auburn, Maine, recalls experiencing a persistent dull ache in his lower abdomen during his teenage years and early twenties. As he attempted, yet failed, to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail at 20, the discomfort continued. But he kept his pain hidden. “In my childhood, if you weren’t seen, you weren’t getting beaten,” he said. “So you never voiced any concerns.”

At 22, Isaac received a diagnosis of testicular cancer, a disease often affecting younger and middle-aged men. The prospects for recovery can be favorable if the cancer is detected early.

The following years were a blur of chemotherapy sessions, numerous surgeries, including a retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in Boston requiring an incision along his entire abdomen. His weight plummeted from 180 to 110 pounds, his body branded with two feet of surgical scars. Faced with an uncertain future, the 23-year-old grappled with the harsh reality of potential permanent disability.

But for Isaac, resigning to such a fate wasn’t an option. “I could have been milking the system like some people, but what kind of life is that? There are people who legitimately can’t care for themselves, but I’m too stubborn,” he said. Instead he returned to school to became a certified nursing assistant, a role he maintained for the next eight years.

A decade after his initial attempt, Isaac made his way back to the Appalachian Trail. This time, he embarked on his journey from Maine, and after eight months of backtracking, pausing, and restarting, he finally completed the hike.

“Things have happened to me that I didn’t choose,” he reflected, “but I tried to find my own way.”

Five Tips For Better Outdoor Portraits

May 23, 2023 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Editorial, On Location, Portraits, Storytelling, Tips

well-dressed motorcycle rider © Brian Fitzgerald

Outdoor environmental portraits offer a blend of human emotion and natural beauty and can elevate a simple portrait into a compelling visual story. Whether you’re a pro photographer looking to refine your craft—or you’re in a position to hire one—understanding the dynamics of outdoor portrait photography is key. Here are five things I try to keep in mind:

1. Don’t Fight the Sun (Unless You Know You Can Win)

There’s no way around it: photographing outside in full sun is a big challenge, especially for natural-light photographers. Harsh direct sunlight can cause unflattering shadows, squinting, and overexposure. A classic solution is shooting during the ‘golden hour’ – the time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is softer and warmer, which can help to create a magical mood.

Choosing the time of day isn’t always an option, so if you’re planning on doing battle under the blazing noon sun, you’ll have to bring plenty of backup in the form of off-camera flash and reflectors. For example, you might position your subject with their back to the sun, using it as a hair light, and fill in their face with a reflector or flash. You’ll need a firm grasp on balancing ambient and artificial light, but if done correctly, you can create dramatic portraits with impact.

2. Show The Environment

The outdoors provides background options that can complement your subject and tell a deeper story. Storytelling details might also help tell the story of your subject.

Watch out for distracting elements in the frame that may draw attention away from your subject. Use depth of field to your advantage, blurring out the background to keep focus on your subject when necessary.

3. Use Motivated Lighting

Just like in filmmaking, motivated lighting plays a crucial role in photography. The concept refers to lighting that appears to come from a natural source within the scene, like the sun, a lamp, or a fire. This kind of lighting not only looks more natural, but it also helps to tell a story and create a certain mood or atmosphere.

4. Create Rapport

Creating a genuine connection with your subject is vital in any kind of portrait photography, but it’s even more crucial outdoors where there are more variables at play. It’s easy to get caught up in your gear, or dealing with changing light and variables like wind, and to forget about connecting with your subject. Good rapport can help your subject feel comfortable and relaxed, leading to more authentic expressions and poses.

5. Mix It Up

Finally, add variety to your outdoor portraits by mixing up poses, locations, angles, and focal lengths. You might start with wide, non-portrait lens and then work up to a tight headshot with a portrait-length lens. Have your subject look away from the camera as well as towards it. You’re not just after a well-composed portrait; you’re looking to create a mood.

The key to a successful outdoor portrait shoot is adaptability. The natural environment is ever-changing, and so should your approach. The sun might not always cooperate, and your environment will present unexpected challenges or distractions. But with these five tips in mind you’ll be better prepared to capture stunning outdoor portraits that truly tell a story.

Capturing Reality with Scientist and Innovator Sarah Martinez Roth

May 2, 2023 0 Comments read Client Work, Editorial, Mainers at Work, Portraits, Storytelling

*Sarah Martinez Roth, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA ©Brian Fitzgerald*

A few months ago, Colby College commissioned me to photograph one of their distinguished alumni, Sarah Martinez Roth. A 2011 Biology graduate, Martinez Roth went on to earn her master’s degree and Ph.D. in tumor biology at Georgetown University.

As a senior scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, Martinez Roth develops treatments for sickle cell disease and has received the Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award from the Posse Foundation for her work.

My challenge was to capture Martinez Roth immersed in her work within a bustling laboratory. I aimed to reveal that even when working at the forefront of technology, being a scientist still involves hands-on tasks in small labs filled with well-used equipment. I appreciate that the labs she works in are clearly spaces where work happens – far from the pristine, symmetrically gleaming, and unrealistic labs depicted in TV and film. My goal was to integrate as much of that authenticity as possible into her environmental portraits.

Scientist Sarah Martinez Roth — *Sarah Martinez Roth, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA ©Brian Fitzgerald*

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.

Environmental Portraits: Take it Outside

July 7, 2020 0 Comments read Blog, Client Work, Editorial, On Location, Portraits, Storytelling

This June, after several months of working remotely (almost entirely indoors), I’ve been fortunate to be able to get back to creating new images for my clients. Now that the days are growing warm it’s been the perfect time for my clients to take advantage of the short but beautiful summer season here in Maine by having their commercial portraits done outside.

There are two primary types of portraits I’ve been making. One is an editorial-style environmental portrait, where the setting is an important storytelling aspect of the final image. Context is an important part of this type of portrait, since the background ends up being a secondary subject in the image.

The other portrait type is more of a cinematic headshot portrait, where there is an environmental feel but the focus is entirely on the subject–it’s a great way to photograph a doctor, lawyer or financial professional far from their normal work environs and still make it seem professional and natural to do so.

I’m finding myself taking my studio on the road more and more often, photographing my clients outdoors and on location where conditions may be more changeable and unpredicatable but the results are often more striking. It brings me back to my roots as an Arizona photojournalist, hauling out my Norman 200B flash heads to compete with the sun to make a memorable portrait.

So consider outdoor portraits as an option that could work for your business or brand.

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