Gallo Boxing GoPro POV: Volume #2 (Christian Bleha, Fighter with Tattoo)

Here is Volume 2 of my GoPro POV series at Gallo Boxing.

I first saw Christian Bleha chilling after a long workout, dripping in sweat and puffing from exhaustion. I saw him from afar–and loved his tattoos. But I was a bit nervous to first approach him. However I knew I would regret not asking to take photos of him if I chickened out– so I swallowed a big gulp of air, and introduced myself to him and asked if I could take some photos.

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Fortunately he was really cool with the idea– and was incredibly cooperative to having me take his photos. He showed me all of his tattoos– even took off his shirt and shoes to show some more hidden ones.

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I also feel the most meaningful part of this shoot was learning more of his personal background and his history (I didn’t edit it out in the end, in-case you are interested).

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What I also was reminded by this is that although photos are important as a photographer– I feel that connecting with your subject and learning more about them on a deeper level as a human being is much more important.

Also some note about taking the photos. Note how I took multiple shots of him, and asked him to be patient as I was taking several (I counted, “one, two, three” to signal that I was taking photos). Furthermore, I experimented with different angles, used some shots with a flash, without a flash. And while taking the photos I tried my best to talk to him and get to know him better–which put him more at ease.

Neopan 1600 Preset

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I just made a new grainy b/w preset for Lightroom 4 (optimized for my Ricoh GRD V) that I am using for my project. You can download it for free here.