The power of a portrait!

One of the most powerful moments I’ve ever had behind the lens happened when I had the honor of photographing Jake and his colleagues at the Boulder Rural Fire Rescue in Boulder, Colorado for the What I Wear To Work portrait series. Jake’s a Firefighter and an EMT.

As a portrait photographer I'm always very grateful when people agree to work with me. I do my best to honor them by creating images that reveal something unique about their personality.

As I was working with Jake one of his colleagues noticed that he had a flag in the inside pocket of his bunker jacket. The flag was folded in the "13-Fold" pattern so we immediately knew it had special meaning. Jake explained to us that wrapped inside the flag were "goodbye letters to his family in case something happened". The mood became quite somber as we all knew exactly what “something” meant.

It was an intense and revealing moment when he raised the flag to his heart and looked directly into the camera and into me at the same time. I could feel the sincere, powerful connection and it was truly quite moving. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. Thanks Jake!

You can check out more portraits from the series here ~ https://rdjonesphoto.com/what-i-wear-to-work

Jake! Firefighter and EMT at the Boulder Rural Fire Rescue in Boulder, Colorado.