Mother. Wife. Professional Dancer. World Champion Boxer
...Bad Ass Princess
Dare to
DREAM.
Dare to
BECOME.
We all have dreams, goals and wishes of things we'd like to do in our lives. But how many of us actually pursue them? Accomplish them?
Is it fear, contemplation, busy schedules, or just the whispers of nay-sayers that keep us from fulfilling our every whim of a dream?
Meet Janelle and know that if you can DREAM it, you can BECOME it.
THIS PHOTO SHOOT WAS A GREAT SURPRISE TO ME
Her Story began at the late age of 30...
As with Tiger Woods or any champion athlete, dancer or other; they so often begin their world class touring careers at a very young age under 10. But with Janelle she picked up her dancing shoes at 18 when everyone told her she's too old to start. Meet Janelle and you'll know that no nay-sayer can stop her if that's what she wants to achieve.
DANCE: By the time she was 30 she was touring Europe. She was given the opportunity to train with the Ba Sheva company in Israel as a special guest with the company. Over the years trained in Barcelona, Paris, London, Argentina, Switzerland. She trained in company class as the only non-member with Bejart, in Switzerland, Ballet Rambert in London, Julio Bocca in Argentina, Janelle performed with Repertory Dance Theatre, and Dance Theatre Coalition in Salt Lake City, Utah, training with Ballet West. Moving to Arizona she worked with Cliff Keuter, Center Dance Ensemble dancing principle parts, training with Ballet Arizona. Danced in companies in RI, Boston, San Francisco, doing work by Terry Credence, David Dorfman, Martha Graham and too many to mention.
MODELING: Take one look at how beautiful Janelle is at 60 and you can imagine at 20 it seemed natural that everyone told her that she should model. But meet this hard core princess and you'll quickly know the whole 'glamour thing' is not her most important 'go-to' in life....But she's also not one to let good opportunities slip by her. So along with dance, she took on Modeling for Levi's, Ralph Lauren and countless other brands and designers.
If you're going to race cars, why not race Porsches?
As with anything, once we achieve our pinnacle we all need our tanks refilled with more inspiration, energy and zest for something new. Who would have guessed that her next pursuit would be racing cars? At 59, Janelle embarked on race car school with Porsche Experience in Birmingham, Alabama at the Barber Motorsports track with some of the most prestigious instructors in the world. She does performance driving events in San Diego and LA at every opportunity possible.
"Sure there have plenty of times that I've thought, what am I doing? Can I really do this? .... But you can't think about the fear, you just have to DO It. " - Janelle Freiman
Her professional Boxing name is "Ninja Princess"
It's rare I call any woman a 'Bad Ass'...but any woman who can kill it in a boxing ring and take home a world championship belt, is in my definition a - Bad Ass!
When Janelle set her sights on boxing, she sought out Olympic boxing coach Basheer Abdullah. (Basheer, a 2x Olympic Head Coach, 2x Head Coach for USA’s World Championship Teams and 2x USA Boxing “Coach of the Year”).
He looked at her being a woman and at her age of 55, and he thought - NO!
But Janelle kept after him relentlessly. She continued to message him on every portal she could until his wife Lily recommended he train her and finally he was convinced. She trained under him for 6 years. Traveled from California to Kansas City till she finally landed her first world title at Ringside Masters Championship, then at Ringside World Championship, IKF Kickboxing Classic World Championship, and several Invitationals around the country. Janelle travelled to Australia to Fight in the first women’s WBF World Title match. Her training takes 25 hours a week of dedication. She competes both nationally and internationally all year long.
Janelle reminds us that...
It takes a DREAM to Start.
DESIRE to get keep Going.
And DETERMINATION to Finish.
REALITY PAIRED WITH CREATIVITY
SO NOW...
HOW TO CAPTURE ALL THAT SHE IS IN ONE SHORT PHOTO SHOOT?
HER STYLE, BEAUTY, ATHLETICISM AND GRACE
COME TOGETHER
DAY OF THE PHOTO SHOOT... I opened my studio doors to hear a loud roar and a flash at a growling black Porsche racing down my drive. Out of the car door stepped this tall fiercely confident woman dressed in black ripped jeans, designer combat boots and a simple rolled sleeved white T-shirt. She looked like the female version of James Dean.
A suitcase filled with Louboutin's....and boxing gloves???
There was something very strong about her presence but also a clear sense of style and graceful beauty about her. As she opened her suitcase and out poured a mirage of fashions from pairs of Louboutin's to vintage garments she's collected from her travels around the world; all mixed in with her boxing gloves, ballet pointe shoes and jewelry that sparkled like gorgeous pieces of art. It really was a rainbow of styles - all that depicted the different faucets of who she was. But how to make sense of it all?
So Where To Start?
Every photo shoot has to have a common thread. A theme and storyline about who you're photographing. A portrait should showcase a person's LOOKS, their sense of STYLE and most of all it should reveal their PERSONALITY in a way that everyone who knows them instantly connects with their identity. As a professional photographer, I always want to add a dash of CREATIVITY and art in a way that makes a photo scream... WOW to the world!
So with Janelle, I wanted to capture her very feminine with her very strong and bold athletic side. A sense of simple sophisticated upscale style resonated with me so I decided to make that the 'base tone' to her photo shoot. As much as I loved her wardrobe, I didn't want this to be a fashion shoot. I wanted this photo shoot to be about 'her', not her magnificent clothes. So we chose to pair some of her wardrobe with some of my dreamier studio wardrobe.
Selecting The Wardrobe
(Outfit No. 1) Our first segment of the shoot was wrapped around the idea of her boxing name "Ninja Princess". So we crowned her with an artful tiara made of raw natural crystals. Paired it with a ballet tutu (& later a full length tulle skirt) and a lightly glamourous gold translucent top that let her strong shoulders and muscle definition be revealed (I wanted to capture her greatly toned physique and muscle definition). The base of this outfit represented her as a dancer. We accessorized it with her boxing gloves and boots to represent the rebellious strong side to her.
(OUTFIT No. 2) In our second segment, I chose to revolve the theme around her sense of FASHION with an Element of Boxing. So I chose her Roberto Cavalli elegant white fitted long dress paired with eye-catching white Louboutin spiked heeled boots. It was a strikingly valorous look to behold, all in white - surprised by black boxing gloves.
(OUTFIT No. 3) In our third outfit we went GLAMOUR with an Element of Boxing. A Black sequined skirt by Allo Martinez from Buenos Aires paired with a daringly sexy deep plunge sequence bodysuit from our studio wardrobe. A striking black tuxedo look accessorized with her championship boxing title belt.
Studio Set Up
LIGHTING SET UP:
I chose to keep the set up simple with just one high powered 5' octobox powered by my strobe - set to her LEFT side to capture a strong shadow & highlight contrast look (bringing out her muscle tone and definition. Gives a strong contrasting look and great definition to a photo). My octobox was set on a boom stand at an angle above her.
To the RIGHT side of her, was a soft filtered full window light which lightly wash over her and filled in the shadows softly. Angled on her back side was a full length white reflector to give her separation from the backdrop.
BACKDROP CHOICES:
I didn't want this to be a soft family portrait-ish look, so I chose to go with a more fashion catalog THUNDER GRAY seamless paper (also shot in POLAR WHITE).
CAMERA, LENSES & LIGHTING:
Canon 6D full frame, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, 70mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 100 & 800
Alien Bee Einstein Strobe with 5' octobox w full body white reflector.
EDITING:
To add a bit of depth to the flat gray paper backdrop, I added a layer of custom texture (created myself) as an overlay in post processing giving the photo a little more grit. I balanced the color to a cool tone blue and pumped up the yellows and oranges to counter balance out the gold of her hair and skin tones.
Watch the Behind The Scenes Video of Janelle's Shoot
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