Not too long ago I was approached by Ragged Magazine, published by Filter, to photograph Go Radio. Immediately my brain goes to work on where I can shoot this, knowing full well the boys would be wearing American Rag’s fall collection. Go Radio is based in Florida. Fall clothing, Florida temps, afternoon storms and insane humidity, you do the sweat-math-factor.

We only had a couple days for pre-pro so time was definitely not on our side. Thankfully I have an amazing crew who knows how to put the urge in urgency and BAM, location secured. The bowling alley worked out perfect despite the time restrictions. We had to be out of there before the teams and leagues arrived. Yes, I’m saying that with utter seriousness. Combine that with an editorial sized budget and you have yourselves a fast paced shoot, dare I say Ludicrous Speed. Well, maybe not that fast but I couldn’t resist the Spaceballs reference. Our hustling pace didn’t allow for any BTS footage however, if you poke around my tumblr or facebook there are some pre and post shoot outtakes shot with the Canon G11. After the shoot band and crew had a glorious time feasting on mexican food and pitchers of margaritas. Talk about a happy ending…

Spent some time in Salem Massachusetts to shoot this cover for the December issue of Decibel Magazine.  My producer Michelle found us a great location to shoot at, Pioneer Village, figuring we might need some indoor location options if the weather proved uncooperative. Originally we planned to arrive the day before the shoot but that changed in the 11th hour…Converge had a scheduling conflict and our shoot got bumped up a day, the day of our arrival. Thankfully I’m the type of photographer that is over-prepared to the point of obsessive compulsive. Lighting kits were methodically packed in the event that something didn’t arrive or arrived damaged.  Carry-ons contained the cameras (canon and hassy), laptops(2 macbook pros) and additional lighting, spare flash tubes, etc. No matter what happened, we could pull the shoot off with just the carry-on bags.  Worst case scenario packing not necessary, everything arrived A-OK (thank you Jet Blue).  Our flight was at 6am, arrived at our location by Noon, band arrived at 2pm, wrapped at 4:30, had a celebratory beer that night! The following day was spent exploring Salem.  My fave thing about the trip, purchasing a Salem Cycle racing jersey. Best meal, hands down Gula Gula.

Our shoot with platinum recording artist Sean Kingston took place in Miami/South Beach at the very stunning Hotel Victor. The crew and I got there the day before the shoot to finalize pre-pro. Initially we were limited on where we could shoot, what areas we could shut public access down, etc. That quickly changed when I got a call from MTV saying they were coming to the shoot to film it for an episode of My Super Sweet 16. Hotel Victor bent over backwards to give us what we needed and what we needed was the Penthouse. It took up the entire top floor but darn, it was booked the day of the shoot. Again, another stroke of luck it was booked by an NBA team who wouldn’t be there until the evening. SCORE, literally.

Come shoot day we were ready for action. At 7am we had six different lighting setups pre-lit and ready for Sean WAY ahead of time. Wardrobe, hair and makeup people were ready to go and as with all celeb shoots, there is a bit of a waiting game. Kinda like Christmas, you wait to wake up bright and early only to have everything unwrapped in a matter of minutes. Around noon Sean arrived with his own crew in tow, his hair was trimmed up, makeup check, wardrobe was predetermined based on the coloring of each room/setup we established, time to bang out the photos and send him on his way. Rumor has it he was going car shopping for his birthday after the shoot so I didn’t want to keep the big fella any longer than he wanted to be kept. We had an hour with Sean and for celebrity shoots that much time is a luxury.

The well oiled machine working on this shoot killed it. From lighting to styling everything ran super smooth. The best part, shooting tethered and Mr. Kingston expressing his approval. In my humble opinion, that’s better than a Christmas gift any day.

I get a lot of enjoyment working with people in the entertainment industry. Be it celebs, bands or even the people behind the scenes, the energy is awesome. When a label calls I welcome the challenge of producing something that will fit that particular performers style. One thing to keep in the back of your mind, especially when you deal with music makers, they aren’t as easy to shoot as say an actor/actress. Pulling out a performance from them is all about developing chemistry and making sure they trust you enough to let their guard down. Music can tell such a story so my approach to music photography is to do the same. I think the best way to honor an artists musical vision is to give them a cohesive story all their own.