Senator Mel Martinez cover shoot

On this assignment I was commissioned to photograph Senator Mel Martinez, his wife Kitty and daughter for the cover and spread of Orange Appeal(December issue). The location for the shoot was at The Menello Art Museum which boast a colorful and complex backdrop of art.

Lighting was a challenge as 99% of the paintings were oil based and caused major glare. Thanks to the hard work of my superb assistant Ken Lopez and artillery of equipment I rented from Central Florida Strobe we were able to tackle the pre-light just in time for the Senators arrival.

This is what we came up with..

Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine shoot

Have you ever been on an airplane and picked up the magazine that's wedged in the seat pocket in front of you? Well this last assignment was for Southwest Airlines magazine Spirit

Oddly enough Southwest found me on the internet in search for an Orlando based photographer. The subject I was commissioned to photograph is Captain Damien Kia who is a native of Maui, Hawaii and now resides in Orlando FL. Damien was selected 'star of the month' for December 2008 by Southwest and is the reason I was chosen to photograph him.

Just to get Damien on the phone was a chore mainly due to his busy flight schedule. Once on the phone Damien sounded pretty serious with a deep bass voice and no interest in having his picture taken.. (intimidating) ... After several minutes of convincing that the shoot was legit and I would only keep him for 10 minutes max he agreed to a sitting at my studio Focustudios

On shoot day Damien arrived in a battery orange Toyota XB with a ukulele in one hand and some authentic Hawaiian Leis in the other and all smiles inbetween. After our sitting Damien admitted that he was nervous to have his picture taken and is the reason why he was so difficult to pin down for the shoot.

This is what we came up with.

Tiger Woods spotted at Publix

Today I was strolling thru Publix in hopes to stock up the kitchen's supply for food. Out of curiosity I took a glance down the magazine aisle and low and behold there was a Golf Digest / Tiger Woods cover shoot I worked on with Dom earlier in the year at Reunion, FL.

The story behind this cover shoot is somewhat amusing.   The original agreement was that Dom and I would have 15 minutes with Tiger and the other 15 minutes would be shared with the great legend sports photographer Walter Iooss. This would of been a total of 30 minutes. What you should consider is our set up alone consisted of 12 strobe heads, 6 packs, a 12' backdrop + a 9' backdrop. Not to mention a 8x10 camera and a few long lens angles high up on ladders. All this tech talk means it took us a full 12 hours of set up and another 6 hours of rehearsal so that when Tiger walked in we were efficient and wasted no valuable time.

On shoot day our time with Tiger was cut short. Dom and I ended up with roughly 7 minutes to get 'the shot'.

Below is the cover image Golf Digest ended up running + what our set up looked like.. Fun times!