A Portrait Without Faces

There are times in many sports where there’s ‘peak action’. Those moments are recorded as the most poetic and intense of that sport.

Examples are the high point of a jump shot in basketball or a pole- vaulter clearing the bar.

In rare cases the peak moment can happen before the event begins. For these bodybuilders the simple act of taking off their shirts captured the essence of their sport.

Our location was “Quads Gym”…probably the best gym in Chicago land, if not the best in the country. I have a rich history with the gym and it’s owner. We brought the photo studio to the bodybuilders. We lit our five talents with a 7’ X 16’ soft box, constructed at Quads. Many occasions have called for soft boxes more than twice that size on location, so this went smoothly and quickly.

Then the fun started. Our hand picked bodybuilders couldn’t “see” my direction for the specific positions that I wanted them to be in. The tank tops were covering their eyes! Being a long time “gym rat”, I was able to communicate the different muscles that each of the talents needed to separately accentuate…lats, biceps, pecs, quads, etc. Seeing their faces wasn’t of importance. What was important was seeing their bodies, hitting their poses in unison. I wanted their hands unclenched, showing relaxed confidence. Their bodies were controlled and posed, highlighting different muscle groups during the peak action moment. All five of them were posed, but not straining. With our perfect communication, we all took first place!