Page 54 - Demo

54 || FITNESS M AG A Z I NE MFM: Fitness or Fashion? Do you have a favorite?DB: That is a great question! At the moment I would have to say fitness as it%u2019s the majority of my work, day in and day out. However, I started out shooting fashion working with many of the modeling agencies in Chicago for years! I do enjoy both, and it%u2019s fun to intertwine both looks at times during shoots depending on the look we are trying to achieve.MFM: Tell us about your first big break in the fitness industry?DB: It%u2019s interesting, and I share this story with many of the clients I shoot for as well as college students that come for visits with their classes and professors as you never want to pass up an opportunity in this industry. I have been in the photography field for well over 30 years, and I have been shooting fitness clients and models since 2006. I began speaking with a fitness competitor back in the summer of 2006 that mentioned she was coming to Chicago to compete in a fitness competition called Jr. Nationals. At the time, I was shooting a lot of fashion and glamour style images including work that was published in Maxim and FHM so I really wasn%u2019t familiar with the fitness competitions and had no clue what Jr. Nationals even was. The fitness model that I spoke to was extremely kind, energetic, and down to earth, and we developed a great rapport through e-mails and phone calls discussing themes and ideas we wanted to shoot when she was in Chicago for her competition. We had a great day shooting a variety of outfits and looks and a few weeks after the shoot when she received her images, she contacted me saying there was a magazine that wanted to do a 16 page layout on her and they were interested in running some of the photos. The model, magazine, and I came to an agreement, and the magazine published 6 of my images out of a 16 page layout. What made it more exciting, was that the kind, energetic, and humble young lady that I was fortunate to shoot with when she was just starting out was none other than Jamie Eason, who turned out to be and still is one of the most respected names in the fitness industry and