You can check out the story & write up over at Mobile Bay’s website.

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The setup for this shoot was 3 lights. My keylight was a beauty dish from above, my fill light was a large octabox located camera left and my background light was a standard reflector with a 30 degree grid aimed at the background. The background was white seamless paper. I tethered to my macbook air during the shoot and since we were shooting so many subjects over 3 days, I wanted to make the editing easier on set so I brought my thunderbolt display.

For those of you reading this that have no idea who this guy is or why he makes this face, I’ll let this clip explain it for you.

My assignment was to photograph Jack doing simple day to day things while making “the face.” The main idea ESPN Senior Photo Editor Stephanie Weed and I discussed was to shoot Jack in a grocery store examining an apple and making “the face.” After many rejecting phone calls to grocery stores (because of corporate policies) in the days leading up to the shoot, the apple idea almost didn’t happen. Since the assignment was on short notice and the fact that it was a small shot, we weren’t going to jump through hoops and try to get approval from corporate grocery store chain offices. However, on the day of the shoot I gave the apple idea one more attempt. After scouting some locations for other ideas, we spotted a Piggly Wiggly in the shopping center where we were going to get some coffee. I walked into the Piggly Wiggly expecting to be rejected again, but it turns out I hit the right store. The Piggly Wiggly local owner, Jay Welborn, was a big sports fan and was excited to let us do the shoot in his store on the spot.

Jack grocery shopping

Jack having ice cream at the park

Jack walking his dog

Jack fishing

Jack knitting with his great aunt

When Jack brought me to his fraternity house, I knew I instantly wanted to shoot one last image. A little off the beaten path of simple every day things, I had an idea for a “sophisticated” shot of him with a coat and pipe. This is what we got.

And a few extras…

To find out more about these “Royal” people, you can read the article on Mobile Bay’s site.

You can also jump to the bottom for a behind the scenes photo and an explanation of some of the lighting.

Kathryn Morgan, as the title character in Mobile Ballet’s upcoming production “Snow White”

Willie Foster, owner of The Biscuit King Cafe

Carolyn Mathers, owner of Queen G’s Café

Kathryn Morgan, as the title character in Mobile Ballet’s upcoming production “Snow White”

Ashlyn Hudson, winner of Loxley’s 2012 Little Miss Strawberry pageant

Trisha Keller, actress in the role of Guinevere in the Chickasaw Civic Theatre’s original production of “Camelot”

Mike Box, who portrayed King Arthur in the Chickasaw Civic Theatre’s original production of “Camelot”

For any photo geeks or enthusiasts who are curios about the lighting, I will break it down for you. For most of the shots, the example below is where the lighting started. It was a simple 3 light setup. I started off with my fill to my right using a 47″ Octabox. I used a fill light to bring out details that would be left in dark shadow had I not used one. I then dialed in my accent light which was a standard reflector with 30 degree grid spot aimed on background behind subject and finally my key light was a beauty dish with a sock.

The project was a 2 day undertaking with white seamless stills and dollied motion video to be shot. The project was to promote Baptist Health Care’s heart group, Cardiology Consultants. Over the 2 days, I shot patients, nurses, life flight crew and 30+ doctors.

It was a large and fun project to take on and now the images are in print along with billboards and the commercials are running on TV.

Some outtake shots

A few tear sheets

Actual Billboard in Pensacola

One of the commercials that I shot

Set up on day 1

Behind the scenes on day 2

Big Thanks to Stephanie Boerjan, Craig Granger & Liz Branch at Baptist! Also, couldn’t have done it without my crew Patrick Coughlin, Kristen West & Michelle Dearing.

With the help of friend, Sara Papantonio, I got in touch with Gulf Breeze High School senior Xan Sarra that night and organized the shoot for the next day. Xan, who is a wide receiver for the GB Dolphins, was awesome to work with and took direction very well.

After the shoot, I was honored to find out that SI is using my shot on the cover of this advertorial brochure that they are going to distribute nationally to High School football programs across the country.

You can learn more about Sports Illustrated and Powerade’s program, Underdogs, by visiting http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/specials/underdogs/ and viewing the stories.

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Below are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

And here are a few behind the scenes shots that Xan’s mom, Michelle Sarra took while she was watching the shoot.

Me spraying down Xan with a nice mix of water and glycerine.

Me laying down on the job.

Me dusting off my football skills and trying to show Xan a thing or two.

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For all those who care to see behind the scenes shot, here is the lovely black hallway I found at the Wynn to use.

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