For years my police department’s gym displayed a police workout motivation poster that was put out by the United States Marshall’s back in the 1980’s. Those of you who have been in Law Enforcement for a long time may remember seeing it. The poster showed an inmate working out on a lat pull down machine and he was wearing an inmate shirt. Our gym had gone through some remodeling and the US Marshall’s workout poster went missing and I was on a mission to find a new one. I searched the internet but could not find anyone who had a copy of the US Marshall’s poster so I decided to make a new and improved police workout motivation poster.
I started looking to buy a photo of a prisoner working out to use for the new poster but I could not find any . I could not believe that with millions of stock photos for sale online there was not one photo of a prisoner working out that I could use for my new poster design. I posted in correction officer forums to see if there was a corrections officer who I could pay to photograph prisoners working out but cameras are not allowed inside prisons. I found a news report on prisons in California in which the reporter was allowed to have photos taken inside a prison and there were some great shots of prisoners working out but those photos were not for sale and I could not legally use the pictures without consent.
I was ready to abandon my quest to design and create a new police workout poster when I stumbled upon the portfolio of a photographer in Croatia who had a picture of a muscle bound guy in a abandoned prison. The picture was awesome and the model had just the look I wanted for the new poster, The model was big and hardcore looking which was needed to give the impression that he was a real inmate. I contacted the photographer and told him about my concept and he was excited to work with me on the project. It just so happens that the model posing as the inmate in the photo is a friend of the photographer who is married to a police officer in Croatia.
The plan for the project was to take photos of the muscular model in an abandoned prison in Croatia and the model would wear a orange prison outfit like the outfits inmates wear in most american prisons. The abandoned prison was perfect for the shot because it was an authentic prison which would make the poster more credible. I had a hard time finding a authentic prison suit that would fit the very large model. There were no orange prison outfits in Croatia because they use a different outfit in their prisons. I ended up buying a used prison outfit on Ebay and shipping it to my photographer in Croatia. It took 3 weeks for the package to get to him and then the photo shoot went down at the abandoned prison. I was sent a dozen or so different shots from the photo shoot and I had a very heard time choosing which shot to use for the poster design. I ended up having 2 favorite shots which is why I ended up producing 2 versions of the police workout poster. I took the photos and designed the poster myself which took some time but I have some experience with graphic design.
The entire experience implementing the police workout poster got my creative juices flowing and I envisioned other police poster that I could design. I am big advocate of sound officer safety so I designed 3 posters to be officer safety themed. I want them to be posters that get police officers thinking and talking about officer safety tactics. The swat team raid poster and the police k9 poster were done with artwork that I had done years ago for a police themed comic that I never completed. I am working on new designs but they will take time to roll out. This venture is merging my two passions which are law enforcement and graphic design and I would be happy to work with anyone who has a creative idea for a law enforcement themed poster idea.
I want to have a picture gallery on this site where law enforcement officers can send me pictures of the police workout posters hanging in their gyms and fitness centers. I’ll probably come up with some incentive for anyone who sends me a picture of the police workout poster hanging in their gym.
