REAL PEOPLE REAL STORIES REAL ADS

When doing advertising jobs you usually work with hired talent.  The goal is to make the models look right at home in whatever environment you put them in to get across the story/branding that the client hired you to achieve. During the Summer I was hired by one of my long time clients, Baptist Health Systems, to produce and shoot a couple of ads for them featuring real patients that have had surgeries done with the latest technology, Robotic Surgery.  This new less invasive type of surgery had the patients up and back doing the things they love in half the time it would have taken them with traditional surgery.   The concept was to show these individuals back in action doing what they love.

The shoot called for 4 locations all across the greater Miami Area in half a day.  With the help of my assistant Alex Kolyer ( a great photographer himself) we pulled off the shoots despite 90 degree plus temperatures in the morning and a torrential downpour in the afternoon.  Wonderful graphic art designer Denise Ledee Winston laid out the ads.

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Sometimes when you walk into a shoot everything is just in place and perfect.  You have a great background, great light, super models, and so on.  The picture almost happens by itself.  And then there are the other 99.9 percent of the times when the photographer has to make chicken salad out of chicken shit!

This recent shoot was a perfect example of the other 99.9 percent.  Joshua Prezant Photography was hired to take a portrait of two gifted professors at the University of Miami’s Engineering School who developed a cloud computing setup for the school’s students to use.  I was tasked with making a striking photo of a relatively visually boring subject matter.  The problems at hand were: 1. We were working in a very little space (being that only one computer rack in this big server room was the one that was for the cloud computing). 2. It was important for the client to show the actual components being used and to not show any other compnents not part of this cload computing. 3. The actual computer system was not completely setup ( which actually ended up working for me for the shot I had in mind).  The professors were just starting to put all the components together. 4. The subjects had  never been photographed before by a professional and were a very nervous.

My assistant and I arrived about an hour before the shoot to get in place and begin the process of making something out of nothing.  And every care had to be made to be very careful.  We were working in a computer server room housing millions and millions of dollars worth of sensitive computer equipment (not your $1,600 Imac).  This would not have been the time to blow a circuit or a fuse on the outlet.  Having done our research about the type of environment we were working in and having photographed many time before in this type of environment we knew that it was important to bring the site manager on board to help locate safe outlets and triple check that non of our gear would interfere with anything.  Once we were all cleared to setup and test the creative part kicked in.  Using a mix of gels,  grids and a long exposer I wanted to add some color to a very monocromatic scene.  After a few jokes and being able to show the subjects what the picture would look like…they were more then happy to squeez into the computer rack and get VERY close together.  Even though everything was not all set and wonderful before we arrived I was able to able to produce a image that the client was thrilled with and the subject were super psyched about!

The small rack on the end ( next to one of the subjects) was the space we had to work with. This is a shot taken a day before by the subjects to show me the space.

A lot of people asked about my lighting setup. So here is it.

Tag Magazine’s first issue came out today.  It is a nice collection of photos from a wide range of photographers. On Page 103 is a image I took in Miami Beach a while back when The Beastie Boys played at the Cameo.  Being that the Beastie Boys had not performed in Florida prior to this for the past 10 years, it was a great treat to not only get to see them, but to photograph a band that I really enjoy.  This was a win win for everyone.  The client was happy and I had a great time.

Wonderful Machine Spotlights Joshua Prezant

Siting in my mail box today was this “wonderful” spotlight piece about Joshua Prezant Photography.

Wonderful Machine is a boutique photography web portal dedicated to connecting the world’s most talented photographers with the industry’s most discerning clients.

Thanks for the recognition Wonderful Machine!

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A stupid funny video making fun of the Nikon Vs. Canon debate.

Some photographers are really diehard about which brand they use.  However, I have always viewed my equipment as tools.  And the camera itself as nothing more then a light tight box with film ( or a digital sensors these days)!!!  It is the photographer who takes the picture.. not the camera.

Nikon Girl music video, The Photo Club