GRAB A TISSUE FOR YOUR HEART STRINGS WILL BE PULLED

Yes, I am a business, but I love what I do and that makes it so much more than just paying taxes, bills and mochas. There are two movements going around right now. 1) Filming a crazy fight or something dumber and posting online, and 2) Video of people trying to find that good still exists in this world. The 2nd wont go as viral, but I hope this man does. 

The "who is this firefighter" matters, sure.. but it's more about "who he represents" that matters most. He represents 10's of thousands of fighter fighters across this nation and world who dart inside your house when you are hopefully able to dart out. If you are not (and I pray that you never have to know this feeling) and you are trapped and unable to get out, he is the one who comes in to do everything in his power to rescue you. 

Here are the 3 P's that are important to these guys!

  1. People
  2. Pets
  3. Pictures

Now on to why the matters above. Since I was recently hired to shoot portraits of firefighters I started to research and see what's been done before. I couldn't find anything that really reached out to me as an Photographer/Artist.  

There is a reason for that and it was brought to my attention. At some point (South Portland has portraits starting at at early 1930's) Images were taken of the fight fighters just in case they died in the call of duty. The firefighters to this day call them "Dead Photos."  My heart sank. Here I had a bounce in my step and a huge grin about being hired to shoot portraits, and no one else seemed excited. I had to make a choice. 1) Let my heart go viral with the negativity of the portraits past or 2) Reach out and find the good in creating something to change the way we view them. 

I choose option 2 and decided that they weren't just a standard headshot, these were Marketing Images, these were community bond builders portraits. These will be like baseball cards that are traded and admired. The firefighters have a huge respect in my book, but even more now. We had so much fun with shooting and pranking today at the Fire Station. If you see any images of these guys, please stop and just say "Thank you for what you do." Make their day. Make them (and their images) go viral. 

Technical: Strobes to light the truck, and the subjects: Flags to bounce light and block light, and 1.5 hours of getting the light where I wanted it. I think this is very Cinematic Headshot, with a touch of 3D feel to it! 

Thanks for reading
Photographer Patrick Jones

Caffeine Creative is a Creative Agency, All things Marketing and Advertising whether Digital or Tangle.  Photographer Patrick Jones an Internationally Published Photographer from Los Angeles and now in Portland Maine. I own Caffeine Creative, a Creative Agency. I work with clients from the West Coast to East Coast. I've been doing Photography several years now, but have a long history in Design/Film/Television and Radio. I'm pretty passionate about espresso and making latte art. Follow me on Instagram (SurJones) to see a peak instead a my daily hustle!