Adrian Valenzuela is the most recent winner of the Profoto Assistants’ Photo Contest. Following the screen capture below, please enjoy a detailed profile of a new shooter specializing in an old pastime.

During the infancy of television broadcasting, networks were starved for programming. Live broadcasts were needed to fill hours, and the nascent industry offered Laurence Olivier and Peter O’Toole performing Shakespeare live. On the other end of the cultural spectrum, roller derby matches were also televised as they happened. Reports of the American-invented roller derby go back to at least 1885, and the long races were easily adapted to the television medium. Currently undergoing a nation-wide resurgence, all-female roller derby teams are once again drawing crowds like they did in the first half of the 20th Century.

Santa Cruz Roller Girls vs Tucson Roller Derby ISO 500 1/200 @ f/8. ©Adrian Valenzuela

San Francisco Bay Area-based Adrian Valenzuela has had his eye on a photographic career for a long time. Originally influenced by his parents’ hobby of shooting photos, he explored video production in high school. That was followed by a four-year stint in the U.S. Marines. When discharged, he returned home to attend Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His original goal was to become involved in music videos and television commercial production.

As a Cinematography major, Valenzuela discovered an affinity for working with cameras and lighting, in particular. Responsibilities to family in the area convinced him not to move to Los Angeles to become a camera operator and eventually, a director of photography. What some may seem as a loss of his original dream, Valenzuela turned into a career opportunity. “Still photography you can pretty much do anywhere,” he says.

©Adrian Valenzuela

Using the Internet to research photography options, he joined the Walnut Creek branch of the Northern California Professional Photographers. Meeting many professional photographers there, “It pushed me into still photography even more. I started to take what I had learned about cinematography and applied it to still photography,” Valenzuela explains.

A photographer at one of the monthly PPA meetings was involved with a local roller derby team. Realizing he could connect with the roller derby world to help build his portfolio, Valenuzela wanted to shoot them, but had no connections or contacts. Fortuitously, a skater on a derby team saw some his photographs hanging in his cousin’s tattoo shop, and he soon found himself shooting a team belonging to the  Sonoma County Roller Derby League.

ISO 1600 1/60@ f/4.0 28mm. ©Adrian Valenzuela

In short order, Valenzuela found himself shooting roller derby teams all over California. “I sell my photos to the women on the teams, and I also sell to the leagues themselves,” he explains. “They use my work for their marketing, products, and anything else they want. There’s 40 to 50 members per league, and there’s at least 24 leagues in California alone. And then there’s their fans,” he laughs. As the roller derby resurgence grows, Valenzuela notes players know each other from state to state, which helps his photographic marketing.

Silicon Valley Roller Girls vs OC Roller Girls. Profoto Pro-8 2400 ISO 400 1/200 @ f/8 85mm. ©Adrian Valenzuela

This is not the roller derby your parents might remember. “It’s been around a very long time,” says Valenzuela. “In the sixties and seventies it was a little more choreographed, like the WWF. Now it’s a lot more sports-oriented. There’s rules and competition and a lot of practice.” Between the action on the track and the portrait work of the players, Valenzuela typically shoots two very different types of photography.

Natascha, Elfindale Mansion ISO 800 1/60 @ f/2.8 200mm. ©Adrian Valenzuela

“At first I didn’t know what I was getting into,” he says. “I brought a bunch of lights, but I quickly found out a lot of these older rinks are not up to the proper electrical code. Getting power is often a problem. The first one I shot I had to have one light way up by the DJ booth. It was very difficult, but it enabled me to get some very dramatic lighting. I now set up different zones around the whole track. This way I can move around the track and get completely different shots. The girls know me now, and before the game, they’ll go out and run power for me. It’s all rigged up for me when I show up,” he laughs.

Silicon Valley Roller Girls vs San Diego Derby Dolls ISO 400 1/200 @ f/11 70mm. ©Adrian Valenzuela

His many contacts across the league are suggesting he publish a book of his roller derby photos. “By the end of this year I should have enough portrait work to combine with the action shots,” he says.

©Adrian Valenzuela

Senior portrait photography makes up another large portion of Valenzuela’s business. “It’s huge in the South and Midwest,” he reports. “It’s not as big in California, but if people know there’s talented photographers out there, it’ll become more popular.” Valenzuela proves doing his homework pays off with these customers. Typically, he’ll scout locations the day before a client’s shoot, often in their neighborhood. “If you light it nicely, it’ll look totally differently than how they’re used to seeing it, and the client can’t believe it.”

Katelynn ISO 150 1/200@ f/14 90mm. ©Adrian Valenzuela

Mostly shooting digitally these days, Valenzuela’s main camera body is a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. A Profoto Pro-8a is used to power his lights. “What I like about the Profoto gear is it recycles incredibly fast. For the roller derby games, you have to have the ability to shoot quickly because different things happen always. There’s ten girls on the track at the same time, and things are going on all over. If your lights aren’t ready, you’re going to miss shots. I’ve had it turned up to seven and it still doesn’t slow down at all. You can’t have the lights right up at the track. You have to have them farther away, so you have to have a lot of power turned up, and they still don’t stop. They recycle very fast,” he says. “I also use an old Sekonic Cinema light meter and PocketWizard Plus II’s to fire my strobes,” he adds.

In the future, Valenzuela would like to continue both in the directions he’s pursued and explore some new projects. Being a Marine himself, he’s interested in documenting returning combat veterans. Until then, senior portraits and the roller derby leagues keep him busy earning a living as a photographer. Riding the wave of the rebirth of American roller derby action, we look forward to his book and his other upcoming projects. Roll on, Adrian!

Adrian Valenzuela’s Photography

Adrian Valenzuela’s Blog

Adrian Valenzuela on Facebook

Adrian Valenzuela on Twitter

Adrian Valenzuela on Flickr

We’d love to introduce you to someone you already know, but only by his words.

Ron Egatz is a writer for three of MAC Group’s blogs. He brings a multi-discipline enthusiasm to his pieces, and enjoys putting his profiles of photographers in historical or cultural perspective. Some of his favorite pieces he’s written for the Profoto blog include profiles of Gina LeVay, Eduardo Citrinblum and Jonathan Saunders. Egatz runs Camber Press and has a book of his own work forthcoming from Red Hen Press this spring.

Egatz smiles while directing a MAC Group commercial. ©Abdulai Sesay, www.absesay.com

“I like talking to creative people,” says Egatz, who was first smitten with photography when, at six years old, used a Kodak Pocket Instamatic to photograph President Gerald Ford. His next camera was a Minolta XG-M, which made him consider a career as a pro shooter. Ultimately, music and literature won out. “Taking photos has always meant a lot to me. I shoot Nikon now, and I love talking to folks who create the photos I’ve been lusting after for so many years.”

When not speaking to photographers for MAC Group’s blogs, he continues his obsession with all things PRS, runs Camber Press, and works on his exhaustive documentation of the sewers of his favorite city, Paris. Currently enjoying life as a newlywed, he and his wife Jenn live in a Hudson River loft where they work on a cookbook of original dishes and continue their oenophilic research. His biggest regret is he’s not old enough to have interviewed André Kertész.

Photographer Andrew Brauteseth was recently shooting for Anthropologie. He kindly shared his work and behind the scenes info on how he got these dramatic images.

©Andrew Brauteseth

“Here are some shots I did recently for a perfume campaign running in 120 stores in Anthropologie in the USA. I shot with Profoto Pro-7b’s in the middle of a field outside of Cape Town. It was super hot while shooting at this location around lunchtime. Cape’s crazy glaring sunlight is very strong and very difficult to work with at that time of day. Luckily, the 7b’s put out some awesome power, and I got some great shots. I shoot regularly with flash, and the Profoto range is durable, reliable, and puts out some brilliant, powerful light.”

©Andrew Brauteseth

You can find a making-of post on his blog.

Andrew Brauteseth Photography

Andrew Brauteset’s Blog

Andrew Brauteset on Twitter

Zack Seckler has conducted a great interview with Chris Buck at The FStop. Buck waxes on the importance of prep work, making notes, and the difference between assisting and interning in this fascinating interview.

Details abound about his Vice shoot, including the lighting rig used: three Profoto 7a packs and three heads. A great look into the mind of a photographer who loves to break rules.

Read about our previous encounters with Zack here, here and here.

Huntington Woods, Michigan-native Alex Minkin is on the move. Currently honing his photography chops by attending the Hallmark Institute of Photography, Minkin has his eyes set on a career as a commercial photographer in New York City. Getting hands-on experience as a freelance photographer while working his way through a Marketing and Advertising degree, he’ll graduate this June from Hallmark. Four years ago during his studies in Japan, Minkin was first hit with the photography bug.

©Alex Minkin

Having worked the past two years on professional jobs, Minkin felt he wanted to learn more. Hallmark Institute “has the best equipment out of all the schools,” he states. “The first day you’re there you get your camera. They throw you right into it.” He found the intensive one-year, hands-on program more to his liking than other two-year photography programs. His primary camera is a Canon 5D Mark II. “I also picked up a giant Burke and James 8×10 view camera. That thing’s crazy,” he laughs. “I was looking for a 4×5, but found this. It’s as tall as I am. I had to partially disassemble it to fit it in my car.”

©Alex Minkin

Although it’s early in his career, Minkin is fast becoming a true camera gearhead. “I’ve been collecting vintage cameras,” he says. “I’ve also got a Hasselblad 500C, a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II and an old Rolleiflex TLR in mint condition from the early sixties, and I use them all and shoot 120 film with them. I also have a Polaroid SX-70.”

©Alex Minkin

“The process is more concentrated with film because I don’t want to mess it up,” he says. “I think more about each shot with film than I do with digital. It just looks and feels different than shooting digital—a bit more real. Film is my hobby within photography, and photography is my job.”

©Alex Minkin

Thinking ahead to his coming days as a full-time commercial photographer, Minkin strives to be well-rounded. Portraits, products, architecture, landscapes, food, or sports advertising, he’s interested in shooting anything that falls before his lens. “I started with whatever I was interested in, and whatever was around. Then I thought, ’someone might want me to do this, so I’d better know how.’”

©Alex Minkin

Along with his obsession for vintage cameras, Minkin is no stranger to lighting rigs. “I did a whole campaign for a watch company using one Profoto AcuteB battery pack, a single head and a beauty dish,” he says. “When I first started using strobes, I thought that was the only way to use them: very fast to freeze everything. Then I learned how to drag the shutter, but it really does look so much cooler when everything is suspended and there’s no motion at all. It can be more interesting than showing any blur at all. You can do that with Profoto’s speed.”

©Alex Minkin

“The consistency of the lighting is the thing I look to in Profoto. Some jobs I’ve seen some very messed up colors coming from my other lights. I like the pack instead of the monolights. It’s more portable and I’m more comfortable using them compared to other strobes. It’s simple and intuitive and it always works.”

Not big on a lot of post-processing work, Minkin saves the heavy computer work for retouching model or beauty shots. He’d rather achieve as much as possible in-camera. “My approach has always been just showing cool people doing cool stuff. I love the whole process of photography.”

©Alex Minkin

Although trying to cover all aspects of photography, this 23 year-old would ultimately like to specialize in “sportraiture,” the photography of professional athletes in action, but shot in the controlled environment of a studio or on location with lights. “I did a lot of that over the summer. If it wasn’t for the weather, I’d be doing that now,” he says.

©Alex Minkin

Minkin triggers his Profoto lighting gear with PocketWizards. He takes his readings with a Sekonic L-758 light meter. For his own personal projects, he looks forward to doing more portraiture in film, especially with the Burke and James 8×10. No matter where he’ll be heading, Minkin will be hauling is cameras and other photo gear. We’ll be watching where the road of professional photography will take him as he continues to build his impressive portfolio after graduation.

Alex Minkin Photography
Alex Minkin’s Blog
Alex Minkin on Twitter