Over the past several months, I have grown increasingly disturbed by the allegations against David Alan Harvey.
Because of the allegations, I have concluded I cannot continue to sell my book Fight Night with the Harvey forward included. Because of the book’s limited reach as a print-on-demand publication, I initially thought leaving it as it was would be fine. I can no longer follow that flawed logic.
David has been incredibly good to me over the past decade. He was the first to publish excerpts from Fight Night from the early stages of the project. He has given me advice and guidance. I can never adequately thank him. This was not an easy decision, but principles are only principles if one stands by them.
I will re-issue the book without the Harvey forward at some time in the near future.
The day before a scheduled photoshoot for the Illinois Travel Guide summer issue, Six Flags amusement park decorated their signature entrance for Halloween. This was quite the shock for the art director, photographer, and models that arrived for a shoot that was supposed to showcase summer fun. Since everyone had traveled to the location and was on the clock, the photoshoot when forward as best it could.
I still remember the opening line of the email reading, “We have a little challenge for you.” Always loving a fresh challenge, I took a look and laughed out loud. This wasn’t just a challenge, but a test of all my retouching and problem-solving skills.
The first step would be to plan the attack. Retouching always takes some mental planning, but that is usually something that can be done in the back of your mind on-the-fly. With this situation, I needed to spend some time t think out all that needed to be done. Additionally, think about how to work in a manner that would allow for adjustments to be made later.
First, I needed to replace the water. I was able to use bits of a scouting shoot for the park since the water didn’t need to be the focal point, and the scouting images were shot at about the same angle and had the right amount of ripples and waves. Next, I needed to recreate the merry-go-round structure, bushes, and pool edges. Then cloned out signage, extended the background to the left and right to fit the magazine cover layout, and clean up the sidewalk, followed by adding some sky. Finally, I did some color correcting to brighten and warm the image, adjusted skin tones, and smoothed out some clothing.
For this cover of Do It Yourself magazine, I needed to move the dog into the shed, including making a new shadow. Additionally, I needed to add extra image all around to fit the magazine size and design requirements. There were also several other image alteration requests as you can see.
Photoshop work by Brian C Frank. www.bfrankphoto.com
Photoshop work by Brian C Frank. www.bfrankphoto.com Music: Jazzy French from Bensound.com
How I Work: Video 1
This is the first of several videos I am putting together, showing how I work on real-world images, to give my clients the final image they want. This first video is of a pretty simple request.
This image required to be transformed from a fall scene to summer for the client’s travel guide. This meant removing the dead branches, adding some extra greenery, and convert the fall colors to a sunny green. A little over 30 minutes of work reduced to less than two for this video. This idea for demonstration videos is not mine. Credit goes to the very talented Viktor Fejes for the idea. Enjoy!
After more than five years of photographing mixed martial arts (MMA) in Iowa, Fight Night is now available for purchase on Amazon. Forward by Magnum and National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey. Download the attached press release for more information.
Des Moines, Iowa, September 19, 2019. Iowa has a long history in the sport of wrestling. At the international level, Iowa has produced Olympic gold-medal winners. At the collegiate level, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have won national championships. At the high school level and younger, wrestling approaches football and basketball for prestige among the athletes. Wrestling is a way of life in Iowa. It’s part of who we are.
“Frank’s work cuts to the bone. The blood, sweat, tears, and beers. Twisted odd juxtapositions that obfuscate cleverly/mysteriously just as they work to inform.” -David Alan Harvey
Fight Night is a photography book that explores small-time MMA fighting in Iowa. Culminated over five years, this book captures some of the most intimate moments as fighters explore the highs of victory and the devastation of defeat. It also chronicles the journey leading to the ring, from training and life outside the ring to impromptu amateur fights in bars and professional fights in front of thousands of fans. The goal of the book is to envelop the audience in the same experience that fighters and millions of fans enjoy. The images give the reader the feeling that they are ringside and hearing the roars of the crowd, the cracks of the punches and kicks, and the sight of gladiators fighting to have their hand raised in victory.
Brian C. Frank was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1972. He didn’t begin to learn photography until he began classes at a local community college. He fell in love telling stories with his camera after following a trip to New Orleans on the first year of Hurricane Katrina. Brian currently lives in Ankeny, Iowa with the coolest family around, works full-time as a color retoucher, part-time as a freelance photojournalist and an adjunct professor.
Exhibitions: New York Minneapolis Des Moines
FEATURED: New York Times Lens Blog Burn Magazine Booooooom Joia Magazine The Photo Brigade
David Alan Harvey was born in 1944 in San Francisco, California and was raised in Virginia. Harvey went on to shoot over forty essays for National Geographic magazine, is a member of Magnum Photos and founder of award-winning Burn Magazine. His 2012 award-winning book “Based on a True Story” published by BurnBooks broke new ground in photo book narrative form and design.
