TL;DR: Pegasus, the magazine of the University of Central Florida, hired me to photograph Richard Lapchick for its Spring 2017 issue. Pegasus notes he has been called "the racial conscience of sport."
Laura J. Cole wrote the article, "The Calm Persistence of Richard Lapchick," and the photos are mine. I'm an Orlando editorial portrait photographer, and you can see more of this kind of work on my portraits page.
What does a university magazine portrait assignment look like?
The Pegasus brief was a great editorial portrait of Richard Lapchick, plus photos of the artifacts from his life that he keeps in his office. The artifact photos in the article include a photo of his father, Joe Lapchick, playing basketball, photos of Lapchick with Nelson Mandela and with Muhammad Ali, and a pair of Joe Lapchick sneakers.
I really love working with Pegasus. They always give me interesting stories that are close to my heart, like the Helpers and Healers portrait series I made for them earlier.
Who is Richard Lapchick?
Richard Lapchick has spent more than five decades working for human rights and equality in sport. The 2017 article reported that he was president of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, had written 16 books, and helped start the Hope for Stanley Alliance.
When I photographed him, he led UCF's DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program, according to his UCF College of Business profile. He's also an extremely kind and gracious man.
Can you photograph someone in their own office?
I photographed Richard Lapchick in his own office, because the timing meant the portrait had to happen there. His time was limited, but he still gave me all the time I needed. He let the art director and me rearrange his whole office for the photo. We moved his desk, the chairs, the things on his desk and the pictures on the wall.
He talked with me enthusiastically about basketball and chuckled at my stupid jokes. He also told me one of the stories from the article: at a 1961 basketball camp, he told another camper to stop using the N-word at Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and that camper knocked him out cold. He and Alcindor became lifelong friends.
Where can I read the Pegasus article on Richard Lapchick?
The full article, "The Calm Persistence of Richard Lapchick" by Laura J. Cole, ran in the Spring 2017 issue of Pegasus with my photos. You can read an archived copy of the Pegasus article. I think the article does his legacy justice, so make sure you give it a read.
How do I hire an Orlando editorial portrait photographer for a university or alumni magazine?
Brian Carlson Stills & Motion is based in Orlando and works across Florida. My alumni magazine portraits for Utah State University are another example, and my case studies show more.
Have a story and a person to photograph? Get in touch about an editorial portrait shoot.