“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
“A gift of an assignment” is how 43-year-old portrait photographer Jacobo Medrano describes getting the chance to shoot Héctor Bellerín for issue 17 of Champions Journal. The Real Betis defender is one of the most fashion-conscious footballers in the world and also among the most candid and expressive. It is the perfect blend when you are trying to shed a light on a player’s personality – especially, as in the case of Medrano, you aren’t so fussed about the sport anyway.
“I have to confess that I don’t like football,” Medrano says, despite being born and raised in Madrid. “I did my research on Bellerín and found out that he’s not only a football player, but there’s much more to him than that. I found him really interesting to shoot. The main thing was to show him as a fashion icon.”
The shoot took place under a stand in Real Betis’s Benito Villamarín Stadium and Medrano had no time to waste. “We knew the was going to be really, really quick but in the end it was an even shorter period than we expected. He showed up wearing shorts and a vest with a really normal shirt over it. I was expecting something much more flamboyant, but he turned up just like that. But he fills up the frame so well, you can probably give him pyjamas and he would have been great.
“He’s not only aware of how he looks and how he has to behave in front of a camera, but he’s a nice guy and he was really receptive to everything I asked of him. He’s a good-looking guy, he knows what he’s doing and it wasn’t his first photoshoot. It was a gift of an assignment for a photographer like me even if I don’t like football.
“Normally football players are a bit plain to shoot – speaking as a portrait photographer, of course. Maybe one in every 30 or 40 shoots you get that feeling of having something else, something fresh. Héctor was one of those.
“The first thing I did was tell Héctor that we were in a hurry so I needed him to be 100% focused with me. I normally overshoot, which I suppose is helpful because it gives more options, and this time I overshot even more! I was even shooting bursts sometimes. We got exactly 13 minutes and 14 seconds, but he was really helpful. We had prepared two main sets which were pre-lit and everything went so smoothly that I was able to shoot more sets too. It was just a case of placing Héctor in his spot.”
And that particular spot under the stands was striking. “I just saw that space when one of the Betis crew opened an emergency door and we were suddenly in this great concrete 70s-style place that is the back part of the grandstands of the stadium, and I absolutely had to use that. It was an emergency exit door in the VIP zone and I just assumed there would be a regular staircase or something there, but then I saw these wonderful concrete arches and it ended up being the best part of the photoshoot.
“My job is solving problems,” Medrano adds. “If a guy shows up in his pyjamas and I have ten minutes to depict him as a fashion icon, my focus is mostly on getting the most out of those situations than doing something that’s 100% mine. I don’t even have a style. Having a style would mean I consider myself an artist which I don’t. I’m more like a carpenter or a craftsman. But if I look back on all these crazy shoots a few years down the line, I might see a thread that goes through them.
“The funny thing is, I’m actually a mechanical engineer. I had this one term in college where I only had a couple of subjects, so I decided to do something with that spare time and I jumped into a photography course. And now instead of being a happy, wealthy engineer, I’m a freelance portrait photographer. Some of my friends from college may have much more hair than I do, but they are definitely not as happy as I am!”
Check out these bonus images from the shoot below:
