2016 Photochallenge Week 15: Environmental Portrait

At the end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalog.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

Week 15 Environmental Portrait

This past week's challenge was to take a portrait of someone in their own environs.  This would be work or a hobby for instance.  Ideally you would see either some of the background or perhaps a uniform to clue you into the broader environment and not just a head-shot. 

I struggled a bit with this challenge--mainly due to my Minnesotan nature of not wanting to talk to strangers and bother folks at work.  

1) Herkimer:  This pleasant and knowledgeable server at The Herkimer brewpub in Uptown was kind enough to pose for my while bringing out our big tray of beers.  The light wasn't great but I did my best!  And hey, I completed the challenge!

2) Raptor Handler:  This is a really old one taken with my iPhone in Belgium.  This was at a castle in the mountains near the French border where they had a raptor show several times a day.  The rain kept falling on us during the show but the birds didn't seem to mind too much.  While this shot isn't amazing it shows the subject in action and handling the huge eagle with ease.

3) Northbound:  This one is also an old shot--but one of my first posed Environment portrait shots so felt like adding it here.  This was our wonderful server at Northbound Smokehouse in Minneapolis--a brewpub with decent beers and great smoked meats.