Chris McClain is the Boxer

Among my goals for 2010 was to intently focus more on my photography portfolio and to make an effort to spend a lot more time shooting in the studio. Towards the end of December, I reached out to several models in the Atlanta area and had the privilege of working with several. I initially contacted Chris McClain in hopes of doing some testing and to just see how things would go on set. We scheduled the meeting for January 4th in my studio. I must've been engulfed in the New Year's festivities because it wasn't until the night of before that I reached out to Chris about his measurements in hopes that some of the items in my wardrobe would fit him. I also asked him to bring along any items that he thought were representative of himself to add an additional layer to the photos.

"In the clearing stands a boxer

   And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains"
-Lyrics by Simon & Garfunkel

The lyrics above are an excerpt from a very popular and also one of my favorite folk songs by Simon & Garfunkel called "The Boxer." This 1st person lament expresses the struggles of a young man to overcome loneliness and poverty in New York City. While I am by no means an impoverished New York City vagabond, I can relate to the ballad on many levels and as I would find through the course of this shoot, so could others.

I started out Chris' shoot as I have with countless others. Attempting to gain an understanding of the model through the most poring of shots, the close-up portrait. During this process we talked and developed an instant rapport. After about 20 frames we had the headshot and it was time to move on to the next portion of the shoot. Without having had a detailed agenda I asked him to show me what he brought as his inspiration and he pulled out a few athletic items including boxing gloves. Though I wasn't particularly inspired by the gloves themselves I asked him to put them on anyway. He began telling me about his time in New York City, and how it was there, he was first inspired to try boxing and joined a gym. I could tell that He had been boxing for years because he was so enthusiastic about this portion of the shoot. I gave almost no direction (which is quite unusual for me) and became a fly on the wall, with a camera. The more he boxed, the more he moved, the more he talked I began seeing the similarities between him and the protagonist of "The Boxer"

Within what seemed like five minutes, in actuality an hour and a half accompanied by one hundred and thirty actuations had passed before I realized that I had t o have had all the shots I needed. I didn't go in with a clear purpose of creating an editorial or a specific kind of shot, rather to simply record the splendor that was before me. At first I was even frustrated and told Chris: "Perhaps this was a bad idea. The intensity and precision of boxing doesn't necessarily lend itself to modeling photos."  It became less about modeling and more about existence - portraiture. This collection of images is a collection of portraits. They tell the story of a young man of many talents, who finds his home in various places, with the ambition and drive to do great things. In them you see every facet of a young man struggling perhaps with the same challenges as that of the young man in the aforementioned song.  In them you see excitement, passion, vulnerability, strength and poise...

...however this photo in my opinion was the most intriguing, passionate and expressive. It closes the set, because Chris' strong brow, concealing his hangdog eyes, is balanced by his raised shoulders and agressive stance. In this photo you can see that no matter what this young man may go through in his time on earth...

                                                       ..."the fighter still remains"
Model: Chris McClain
Photographer: James K. Holder II
Location: 10th Street, Atlanta GA


Black hand-wraps and red boxing gloves by Everlast
Red drawstring trunks by H&M