Over the course of one day Chicago Sports Photographer John Gress created lifestyle portraits of 40 NFL football players in action.

When Gress was a teenager he and his best friend started collecting sports cards and then they started trying to get autographs from NBA basketball players after their games in his native Portland, Oregon. That eventually led to him wanting to take photos of them in order to get them autographed. So its kind of ironic that some 25-years later he would be taking photos of the athletes for their trading cards. While the teenager would have died from the excitement, the adult didn’t even know who any of the players were until they stepped onto the set.

Chicago Sports Lifestyle PhotographyBehind the Scenes

Speaking of the set, Chicago Sports Lifestyle Photographer John Gress had two portrait lighting setup on the same set and a total of 9 Profoto lights. 6 of them were for a soft light setup and three of them were used for a harder light look and involved a Broncolor Para 88 and two strip soft boxes.

The post Sports lifestyle photography of the top NFL rookies for Panini America by Chicago Sports Photographer John Gress appeared first on Chicago Photographer & Director of Photography.

1/2 #Behindthescenes and finished #portrait from my #photoshoot with @kattatgirl of Black Ink Crew Chicago on VH1. Styling by @stefuknee_, hair by @zariaorr. Makeup by @kimoramulan. #ninemag #makeportraits #portraitphotography #setlife #portraits_ig #photostudio #profoto #johngressmedia #studiophotography #strobist #igportrait #ig_portrait #chicagophotographer #elinchrom #portrait_ig #chicagomodel #flashphotography #chicagomodels #johngressmedia #famousbtsmag #profotoglobal #studioportrait #portraitspage #mixedmodel #studioportraits #profotousa #iso1200 #gravitybackdrops

A post shared by John Gress (@johngressmedia) on Mar 12, 2017 at 7:55am PDT

Stylist and art director Stephanie Alexis wanted to create a sexy wet look which I married with a behind-the-scenes looking images shot on a Gravity Backdrop and paired with a Mole-Richardson 1000 Watt Baby Fresnel on location at Lacuna Artist Lofts. The location was an easy choice once I saw the Willis Tower framed in the window.

For a second look we used a steel fire door as our backdrop and changed the lighting so it would come from overhead rather than from the side.

None of this would have been possible without make-up artist Mimora Mulan and hair stylist Zaria Orr.

Jackson, also known as “Kat Tat” is a young woman of many talents: tattoo artist, painter, model, entrepreneur, philanthropist, social media and pop culture influencer, and now reality television star. She began tattooing while studying mathematics at the University of Missouri at the tender age of 18. After three years of struggling as both a math major and tattoo artist, she decided to drop out of school to pursue her real passion, tattooing. 

After working at a number of different shops in Chicago, she joined forces with a talented group of tattoo artists in Chicago: Ryan Henry, Van Johnson, “Phor”, and “Jet”. Together they formed 9MAG, which soon became the most popular urban tattoo shop in Chicago. Kat, being the only woman artist in the shop, held her own weight and quickly made a name for herself as one of the most sought after tattoo artists in the industry, with a strong celebrity clientele including rapper King Louie, Superbowl champions Jamie Collins (NE Patriots) and Shane Ray (Denver Broncos), and countless more. 

The artists of 9MAG were eventually discovered by a major production company, and are now all-stars of VH1’s hit series, “Black Ink Crew: Chicago”. As a non stop force in the tattoo and art industry, Jackson’s work cannot be denied and has been at the top of the discussion on numerous platforms including ESPN, Rolling Stone, VH1, and Windy City Live.

The post Portrait photography with Black Ink Crew Chicago Celebrity Katrina Jackson appeared first on Chicago Photographer & Director of Photography.

When it come’s to Instagram followers, aside from @BernieSanders, Katrina Jackson may be the biggest celebrity I have had the pleasure of photographing in recent years. That is if you don’t include professional athletes.

Jackson, also known as “Kat Tat” is a young woman of many talents: tattoo artist, painter, model, entrepreneur, philanthropist, social media and pop culture influencer, and now reality television star. She began tattooing while studying mathematics at the University of Missouri at the tender age of 18. After three years of struggling as both a math major and tattoo artist, she decided to drop out of school to pursue her real passion, tattooing. 

After working at a number of different shops in Chicago, she joined forces with a talented group of tattoo artists in Chicago: Ryan Henry, Van Johnson, “Phor”, and “Jet”. Together they formed 9MAG, which soon became the most popular urban tattoo shop in Chicago. Kat, being the only woman artist in the shop, held her own weight and quickly made a name for herself as one of the most sought after tattoo artists in the industry, with a strong celebrity clientele including rapper King Louie, Superbowl champions Jamie Collins (NE Patriots) and Shane Ray (Denver Broncos), and countless more. 

The artists of 9MAG were eventually discovered by a major production company, and are now all-stars of VH1’s hit series, “Black Ink Crew: Chicago”. As a non stop force in the tattoo and art industry, Jackson’s work cannot be denied and has been at the top of the discussion on numerous platforms including ESPN, Rolling Stone, VH1, and Windy City Live.

I teamed up with celebrity Stylist Stephanie Alexis, who coordinated her fantastic looks with great props, make-up artist Mimora Mulan who’s work was flawless and hair stylist Zaria Orr, who created two amazingly distinctive hair looks, including this one which reminded us of Daisy in the Great Gatsby.

Celebrity portrait photography behind-the-scenes

The post Celebrity Portrait photography with Black Ink Crew Chicago’s Katrina Jackson appeared first on Chicago Photographer & Director of Photography.

It was another star studded jam packed day photographing the top 40 NBA draft picks for Panini America at the New York Knicks training facility in Tarrytown, New York. And just like NFLPA Rookie Premier, I set up two lighting setups on the same set. so I could take more portraits in the same amount of time.

Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles & the leading multi-national publisher of trading cards, stickers, comics & children’s magazines.

I decided to composite some of the NBA basketball portraits to great effect. But I also decided to do a very high contract black and white photography look as well.

NBA basketball portraits gallery

I also decided to try compositing some of the portraits with photos from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Some of the basketball portraits I created for Panini have been published on several lines of their basketball trading cards, with more to come.

NBA basketball portraits behind-the-scenes

Art direction by Tre Hattier. Assisting and behind-the-scenes photos by Kyle M. Thompson

The post Basketball Portraits at Panini’s NBA Rookie Photoshoot appeared first on Chicago Photographer & Director of Photography.

For the second year in a row, Panini America hired me to photograph the NFLPA Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles. Each spring, following the draft, the league’s 40 top prospects converge on the Los Angeles Memorial Colosseum for a day of sports photoshoots with a few select photographers.

Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles & the leading multi-national publisher of trading cards, stickers, comics & children’s magazines.

The images I created for Panini have been published on several lines of their football trading cards.

I decided to create a series of composite images for my sports portfolio to provide some variety as all of these images were captured on a white background in Los Angeles. Creating composite portraits is a lot more difficult than it looks as you have to experiment to find background images that match the color scheme of your subject and are shot with the same lens and at the same elevation.

Here are some of the cards created by Panini’s brilliant graphic designers. Its really an honor to see my portraits on their products. Not only is it because I enjoy seeing my work in print, but because I used to collect cards and autographs before I discovered photography.

Sports Portrait Photographer behind-the-scenes

I placed two different sets of lights on the same set. Then I set up my PocketWizard to automatically alternate between the sets, that way I could press the button twice per pose and capture the player in each set-up.

Art direction by Tre Hattier and assisting and behind-the-scenes photos by Oscar G. Elizondo,

The post Sports Portrait Photographer: Panini’s NFL Rookie Premier appeared first on Chicago Photographer & Director of Photography.