Tuesday, September 6, 2011

perfect




What can i say...surrounded by beautiful girls all day in a park in New Jersey...hanging out with favorite Photo Editor Andrea Verdone....great pics, great people, great food, great everything...it was a long day but so much fun...

who can you trust



This image was out last month in the July issue of money magazine. The concept was conceptual, we needed to shoot a half boyscout, half business man image for a story about finding financial advice you can trust. I loved the concept, but was very aware that if done wrong it would look hokey and silly. We spent lots of time doing tests of the model in different wardrobe setups and different lighting setups and backgrounds, trying to find that image that was great and not ironic or silly. The thing that finally sold it for me was when i put a heavy amber gel on the backlight thats lights up the right side of his outfit in the picture. When i saw that one of the computer screen, i knew it was going to be great. It gave the image a "vintage" feel and a bit more timeless overall. I wish i had one where the backlight wasnt amber, so i could put it up here for you to compare, but i dont. Great shoot, great to work with Neil Jamieson again since he left Field and Stream, and got to meet and work with Shayla Hunter for the first time as well. Of course we all wanted to put on the boyscout stuff and do shots of us as well...heres one of me doing my best scouts honor...

2 covers is 30 minutes...




Out now is the current Golf Digest with my picture of pro golfer Dustin Johnson standing on a poly ball swinging his club...this shoot happened back in march 2011 in Florida. The photo director there, Christian Iooss, told me we had to get TWO cover shoots done in 30 minutes, one for Golf Digest, and one for their sister publication, Golf World. I was super stoked to get the gig, as covers are always a good thing, but was definitely a little nervous to pull off two different covers in 30 minutes. I knew there wouldbt be enough time for two different locations or setups, so decided to focus on getting two different crops on Dustin, one tighter, and one full length..the Golf Digest cover was the priority, and the concept was set, which was Dustin standing on a poly ball swinging his club, as that is one of his workout techniques. I did the Golf World shoot first as it was less complicated, we shot for 10 minutes, then took a five minute break while i re-lit for the full length shot on the poly ball. One of my biggest strengths as a photographer is being quick, decisive, and focused while on set...no wasting time. Usually by the time the talent arrives on set I totally see the shot in my head and give very detailed direction to the talent. This shoot was the same, quick hello's, here's the concept, now lets start shooting. No small talk or wasting time. The shoot went great, all were happy, and we were done in about 40 minutes with both shots...One thing that stuck out in my head after the shoot was watching Dustin chip some balls between shots. We were shooting on a golf course in south florida on an unused tee box, and there was a green with a pin about 100 feet behind us. Dustin pulled a wedge out of his bag and a few balls while we were resetting the lights, and chipped all three of them very casually with no practice swing about 3 feet from the pin. It always blows me away to watch pro athletes do their thing and make is look so easy and flawless..