The Stadium NC Founder Terrence Bunche
I had the pleasure of capturing the portraits of Terrence Bunche the founder of The Stadium NC at his new store located in Crabtree Valley Mall Raleigh North Carolina. The store is having its grand opening on April 3rd, 2021 so please be sure to RSVP for the launch of something that is truly going to be amazing.
As a portrait photographer, the goal is to establish a repo with the subject and while I was getting to know Terrence I found out a few interesting things about the man and his vision for his new business. What struck me as truly amazing is not what this location will represent for men (see more below) but his goal is to represent 15+ other businesses in his store. This is an extraordinary goal because before he even opens the doors to his new business he’s already thinking of others and how he can help other businesses by giving them that storefront exposure even if they don’t have a storefront. Terrence’s wife Rika Bunche also has a store in Crabtree Valley Mall who also highlights other businesses and while we were talking he jokingly said in a friendly competition that he wants to have more businesses in his store than his wife and for this power couple combined they are doing great things for their community by having these business featured in their stores.
So what’s The Stadium? According to Terrence in his owns words.
…a premier hangout and one stop shop for the fellas who like to call their own plays….. The Stadium features the opportunity to shop exclusively with over 15 small [for now] businesses, workstations to write and execute visions, a Lounging Area, and vibes that are sure to be "unmatched."
Here’s a quote from Terrence’s IG page @thestadiumnc that speaks to his vision behind his new store.
A little over a year ago I had this vision of something so dope! I had no doubt in my mind that this was going to literally shake up my city! I didn’t know how I was doing to pull it off in the midst of a pandemic, but I knew that there was a obvious need that hadn’t been met. I began to visually see the layout, I could feel the vibe that would be created, and more importantly come to the realization of the impact that this was going to have on the surrounding community. I began to outline the mission and clearly defined what the purpose would be. My wife and I had already opened up two stores prior to this, but this one felt different! There were some hurdles that I had to overcome, but I wasn’t going to stop until I reached this moment. The moment that I could finally utter these words: Welcome to the GRAND OPENING of “The Stadium” at Crabtree Valley Mall!
In addition to capturing these powerful images of Terrence, I partnered with Gem & Roots founder Jessica Delovely and Kris Noel who conducted an interview of Terrence to get a better understanding of why he started The Stadium. Wayne Meyers who’s a local videographer in Raleigh was also part of the team and he documented the entire interview on video.
The power behind portraits is the story that comes with them and Terrence has an amazing story to tell and really look forward to attending his grand opening on April 3rd, 2021.
For the photographers who are interested in how these images were captured, well, this was a pretty simple one-light setup with a shoot-through umbrella using the Godox AD2000. All images were captured using the Canon EOS R5. I will have a much more in-depth breakdown with BTS videos explaining and showing how these were captured but for now, this should give you a pretty good idea.
INTERVIEW WITH TERRENCE BUNCHE
PORTRAITS FROM THE PHOTO SESSION
