Brandon

DanOstergren · Sep 17, 2017

Brandon is someone I recently met through some very interesting circumstances. To make a long story short, Brandon was recently engaged to a man that I was previously in a relationship with earlier this year. This person was very manipulative and selfish, verbally abusive, and had a drug problem that caused me to leave him. I was lucky that my breakup with him was peaceful (he had no choice because I brought a very large and intimidating friend with me to help me get my things out of his apartment and then break up with him). Brandon wasn't so lucky. When he called off the engagement, our mutual ex bit through his own lip to fill his own mouth with blood, and then bit Brandon's wrist in an attempt to infect Brandon with HIV. I had no idea any of this had happened because I blocked my ex out of my life after leaving him, but very recently Brandon reached out to me for support after a mutual friend recommended he contact me. I was in shock when Brandon disclosed these events to me. It led to a legal battle that was won by Brandon, but that doesn't change the traumatizing effect of such an abusive relationship.

So anyways, the day that Brandon and I met, I happened to have my camera with me because I had a client shoot later that evening. I asked him if I could take his portrait, to which he agreed. The lighting wasn't ideal as it was early afternoon and there was very little shade available, but my goal wasn't to capture a perfect portrait, it was more for personal documentation. After learning of these events he went through I just felt very compelled to get a portrait of him in that moment. Ideally I would have preferred lighting that didn't blow out his shoulders, but I chose to look past that and focus more on the person and the moment. Since meeting, Brandon and I have become good friends, so at least there was one good thing that came out of an awful situation.

Shot in natural light, with the sidewalk asphalt acting as a reflector for some fill.

zombiesniper · Sep 17, 2017

Wow, that is quite the story. Great to see at least one positive outcome.....well two considering this is a very nice image with the lighting that is available.
The face is well exposed, in focus and his expression looks natural. All good from here.
Well done.

chuasam · Sep 17, 2017

My screen is doing something funny. On my iMac the retouching looked too sharp but on my iPad Pro I really like it.

rexbobcat · Sep 18, 2017

DanOstergren said:
our mutual ex bit through his own lip to fill his own mouth with blood, and then bit Brandon's wrist in an attempt to infect Brandon with HIV.

DanOstergren · Sep 18, 2017

rexbobcat said:
DanOstergren said:

our mutual ex bit through his own lip to fill his own mouth with blood, and then bit Brandon's wrist in an attempt to infect Brandon with HIV.

Click to expand...

Yeah, screwed up right? I definitely dodged a bullet with this one. It's scary how easily someone can hide what they are capable of.

DanOstergren · Sep 18, 2017

zombiesniper said:
Wow, that is quite the story. Great to see at least one positive outcome.....well two considering this is a very nice image with the lighting that is available.
The face is well exposed, in focus and his expression looks natural. All good from here.
Well done.

Thank you. I'm just glad this chapter is over, hopefully.

DanOstergren · Sep 18, 2017

chuasam said:
My screen is doing something funny. On my iMac the retouching looked too sharp but on my iPad Pro I really like it.

Not sure how to troubleshoot that.

chuasam · Sep 18, 2017

DanOstergren said:
chuasam said:

My screen is doing something funny. On my iMac the retouching looked too sharp but on my iPad Pro I really like it.

Click to expand...

Not sure how to troubleshoot that.

Process it to suit your clients mode of display

DanOstergren · Sep 18, 2017

chuasam said:
DanOstergren said:

chuasam said:

My screen is doing something funny. On my iMac the retouching looked too sharp but on my iPad Pro I really like it.

Click to expand...

Not sure how to troubleshoot that.

Click to expand...

Process it to suit your clients mode of display

It's personal work, not client work. Maybe my iMac display is screwed up, I don't know. It looks fine on mine, and there was hardly any retouching done.

chuasam · Sep 18, 2017

DanOstergren said:
chuasam said:

DanOstergren said:

chuasam said:

My screen is doing something funny. On my iMac the retouching looked too sharp but on my iPad Pro I really like it.

Click to expand...

Not sure how to troubleshoot that.

Click to expand...

Process it to suit your clients mode of display

Click to expand...

It's personal work, not client work. Maybe my iMac display is screwed up, I don't know. It looks fine on mine, and there was hardly any retouching done.

Maybe my screen is messed up.
Who knows

it looks good on my iPad Pro though...
Or maybe I'm sitting too close to my iMac screen

FITBMX · Oct 6, 2017

Sorry I didn't see this thread sooner..... anyway.
It doesn't look too sharp to me at all, and looks like a great photo.

That dude sounds like a loon! We have a family friend that said his first husband turned out to be super abusive, he was nearly beat to death by him.

A person really has to watch it, abusive relationships are way too common across the board.
Glad you are such a great guy to lend him a friendly ear when he needed it.

DanOstergren · Oct 15, 2017

FITBMX said:
Sorry I didn't see this thread sooner..... anyway.
It doesn't look too sharp to me at all, and looks like a great photo.

That dude sounds like a loon! We have a family friend that said his first husband turned out to be super abusive, he was nearly beat to death by him. A person really has to watch it, abusive relationships are way too common across the board.
Glad you are such a great guy to lend him a friendly ear when he needed it.

Thank you.

The older I get the quicker I seem to be able to read a person, but that certainly doesn't mean I will always catch it. Beauty can be a very blinding for me. I've been through a very abusive relationship though; when I was 21 my ex fiance used to beat me in order to control me (I'm very rebellious when someone tries using unwarranted authority over me, and he was an ex army ranger staff sergeant who needed control in every aspect of his existence). After that experience I tend to be able to recognize forms of abuse before they become physical, and am very quick to get the hell away from that sort of person.

FITBMX · Oct 19, 2017

DanOstergren said:
Thank you.

The older I get the quicker I seem to be able to read a person, but that certainly doesn't mean I will always catch it. Beauty can be a very blinding for me. I've been through a very abusive relationship though; when I was 21 my ex fiance used to beat me in order to control me (I'm very rebellious when someone tries using unwarranted authority over me, and he was an ex army ranger staff sergeant who needed control in every aspect of his existence). After that experience I tend to be able to recognize forms of abuse before they become physical, and am very quick to get the hell away from that sort of person.

I know what you mean, I have become very quick at assessing people, after a few minutes I have a rather clear idea of the person. Some all it takes is a look and you know that you better be on your guard.
Glad you made it out of your old relationship okay (more or less).