Thomas Wynn & The Believers cover shoot

This cover assignment was for the Orlando Weekly. Shan the art director wanted a shot of Thomas Wynn dark and wistful not looking directly into the camera, something with more of an editorial feel.

For a location I had remembered an eerie deserted spot my handy assistant Ken had used in the past. On shoot day we all packed up and headed out to Sanford to this 'secret' location only to have found the property had been cleared out and converted to a paper recycling plant. We actually got kicked out by a 60 year old property manager with a hard hat and a bad sense of humor. This 'run in' reminded me of the old days getting arrested at Asbury Park for trespassing with my fellow photography friends Eric Sutton and Wheat Wurzburger.

This time around , due to time constraints , I had to act quick and found an open field with an abandoned train just a mile away from the original location. Ken and I acted quick, set up lights and went gorilla style.

This is what we came up with:

Nude Nite 2009 poster shoot

This is my second year in a row photographing the poster for Nude Nite. On this assignment I enjoy working along side art director Jeff Matz from Lure Design and Nick the body painter (myspace.com/thebodypainter). The theme for this years poster was slick futuristic so Nick decided to paint our model from head to toe in black paint and afterwards he covered her in baby oil. Talk about a mess!! Since I was officially scheduled to be out of my studio in December this was my last chance at squeezing one more shoot in before my departure.

Nude Nite as an event is a 3 night juried multi-media art event to celebrate the body beautiful. Held on Valentines day weekend every year, hundreds of artist show their works including photography, fine art, installation, sculpture, metal and more. If your thinking this is a raunchy event I'm afraid to say your mistaken. Expect a wide variety of people and some really cool eye candy.

For more info visit Nude Nite

Below are 2 of 4 posters in a series that Jeff designed plus some behind the scenes images of what the shoot was like.

Special Olympics Shoot

This shoot was for Orange Appeal Magazine commemorating the 6th annual Special Olympics Gala sponsored by Publix. The shoot took place at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel out at Universal Studios. Special Olympics is a true grassroots organization, made possible by more than 18,000 volunteers and volunteer coaches. To learn more about Special Olympics Florida, visit Special Olympics Florida

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!

Photo Retouching

I'm happy to of recently reconnected with my dear friend Alan Bremner who currently lives in Solihul U.K. I first met Alan nearly 10 years ago in London on assignment for Sony Music UK. For anyone who follows the dance music scene Alan was part of Brothers In Rythm who also consist of Dave Seaman and Steve Anderson.

More recently Alan has taken a strong liking to photography and retouching. So much that his personal work caught my eye and I insisted he help retouch my Orlando Magazine story and a few images on my site. Not only does Alan have a wicked hand with the WACOM tablet but is also a real down to earth type dude.

Check out more of his work here - sproutphotography