Baby Talk - Holiday Issue

I finally had the chance to work with the ladies at Baby Talk Magazine. Lots of planning went into this fun and suprisingly smooth shoot. At first I was somewhat nervous as I knew a lot was on the line, especially knowing its their biggest spread of the year. Not to my surprise.. we pulled it off without a glitch. Hats off to everyone who made this possible and made my first national 'baby shoot' a success!

Porsche Panamera 4S

When good friend photographer Dom Furore asked that I join him in Hilton Head N.C. and Savannah Ga. to photograph the newly released Porsche Panamera I did not hesitate to say yes. Not knowing what I was in for, we headed north on a 5 hour drive to Hilton Head in a trusty Ford. We arrived late and to my surprise the Panamera had been left at valet by the editor who had driven the car from Atlanta.

Next morning we all met up around 7am at the valet. Since the weather was bad the plan was to drive around and scout locations to shoot the following day. I was happy to see we lucked out and ended up with the all wheel drive 4S model. Green exterior with tan interior. Not my favorite color combination but who was I to complain!

It felt somewhat odd pulling into a McDonalds for breakfast with this beast of a car. Riding in the backseat felt similar to being in the front seat of a 911 accept with more room and more comfort. In the front seat it reminded me of a fighter jet. Too many buttons and gadgets to distract me from the pure experience of Porsche. In fact I remember wanting to turn down the a/c and couldn't find an 'off' button! How frustrating if I had just spent $100k..

Overall.. amazing car and surprisingly cool looking in person. Has a very GT look in that batman kind of way. The 4S model we had packed a mean 4.8 liter V8 boasting 400 bhp.. and all wheel drive!!!!!

One of these days..

For now I have some pictures to share.



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Wild Angel

Its been far to long since I've had the opportunity to collaborate with my favorite creative team Tammara and Sunha. This time around we decided to take a stab at the chopper scene. I was lucky enough to get connected with Jameson from The Hate Factory. Not only is Jameson a cool cat but he has a super cool bike shop in the ghetto which reminded me of something straight out of Brooklyn, NY. ... Jameson was kind enough to let us use his personal bike for some posed shots with Audrey.

This is what we came up with:

Catching up

Its that time of year again and things have been busy. Before I let time slip by any further I figure I better post my last shoot with Orlando Magazine. I truly enjoy collaborating with the crew at OM and jump at every opportunity I get to work with them. For the October issue the theme was 'Nightlife'. The direction we went with was indy rock with a dash of chic. For location I chose BBQ bar downtown Orlando. The backdrop set a perfect mood. To spicen things up I had 2 bands to shoot along side with the model.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Corinne, Tricia, and Michael of Alchemy Hair Salon for the kick ass job with the hair, Sunha for the stellar job with make-up, to my assistants Amanda and Beau for working so hard moving those heavy lights around and to Alan for helping me with the stealthy retouching. As they say.. it takes a village!

Here is some of what we came up with:

Vasti Cover Shoot

For this cover shoot I wanted something gritty with an industrial edge so I ended up using one of my oldest locations near downtown Orlando. The big barrels you see are actual gas chambers they use in gas stations.. Laiza and the boys seemed hip to the idea so we went with it.

Clothing wise, I was lucky enough to have Tammara from Fused Fashion
lend a helping hand. On the retouching my good friend Alan was nice enough to show me a few ninja tricks..

Here's what we came up with:

PLAYGROUND Editorial

When asked to contribute fashion pictures for the fall issue of Playground magazine I wasn't sure how I'd approach it. Whenever I think of fashion I typically don't think of a mom and her kids so I knew this would be a challenge.

Luckily I was paired up with the fabulous Tammara Kohler (stylist) and Sunha (make-up). We shot at the Robb n Stucky off 434 which is a daunting 10,000 square ft. furniture warehouse. The theme for our shoot was "Eco" and luckily David from Robb & Stucky had a few beautiful areas set up. All I had to do was drag a 9' backdrop to give the pages a continual feel.

Thanks to everyone involved!!

Here is what we came up with..

Long Live the Opera

This portrait assignment was shot at the Performing Arts Center at Valencia East. To read more about Robert Swedberg and the fall of the Orlando Opera click here: story

Masquerade Ball shoot at Aston Martin

When asked to shoot at the Aston Martin dealership I was instantly excited. I'm a huge fan of the Aston Martin DBR since the old James Bond movies and couldn't wait to see and hear the new DBR-9. I decided to shoot in the dealerships garage due to outside heat. I was amazed at how mint clean and organized the shop was, not to mention air conditioned. When I asked the head mechanic to move the 450 horsepower V12 around, he revved the engine and I must admit the sound was impressive.

As for the shoot, this is what I came up with..

Godamus Rhyme

This portrait shoot was originally intended for a music feature inside the Orlando Weekly and ended up on the cover! My original plan was to use available light but I ended up changing my mind last minute and brought 1 light with no attachment. We were lucky enough to shoot on the rooftop of news channel 13 downtown O town.

Here is what we came up with:

Tammara & Isaac

This entire shoot took place in around 10 minutes or less. Could of been the heat or the fact that our cars were illegally parked off Pine st. Either way we had fun and thats all that counts!

FMA Awards

I'm proud to announce that I won best single original color photograph at this years Florida Magazine Association conference. The image is part of an editorial cover assignment I shot for Orlando magazine back in October 2008, titled – “Bright Lights, Big Pretty”.

Thanks to everyone involved!

-Carlos

Coming Around Full Circle…

A year ago the Cempella family was spending the day at SeaWorld, one of their 2 year old daughter’s favorite places.

Throughout the day they noticed that Tatum was covered with bruised from head to toe. They quickly brought her to the emergency room and from that day forward life was never the same. Tatum was diagnosed with Leukemia.

After fighting this illness for a year little Tat is finally in remission, back at SeaWorld and is the helping the Pediatric Cancer Foundation find a cure for childhood cancer.

Today I spent the day shooting stills for the upcoming Vanessa Welch Cure Kids Cancer Challenge 5k run / walk, being held at SeaWorld on Saturday, November 7th.