Miami Photographer Joshua Prezant

Hoping for Gold for Cuban American hometown boy Danell Leyva and the rest of the Men’s Olympic team. Shot on location in Homestead for the Washington Post Magazine. Danell Leyva @danelljleyva Team USA

The other day Joshua Prezant Photography got called in to photograph a rising star in the TV media world.  Alicia Menendez.  She is one of the faces that Fusion TV is banking on to bring in the millennial folks to the newly built  English-language channel from ABC and Univision.

The instrcutions from one of my favorite clinets, The Washington Post, was simple and usually what I get from them.  Have fun and shoot something cool. Although this time I did have one request.  Nothing behind the news anchor desk.  So after a quick google search of Menendez I was on the phone with her wonderful people at Fusion. They were extremely helpful and we set up a shoot time.

Having been in many newsroom over the years ( both TV NEWS and Newspapers) I had an idea of what I would be working with and started to visualize ideas.  But nothing I thought of came close to the vision of what this newly contructed 160,000 square foot studio in Doral, FL looked like.  It truley was a amazing site with all the new technological toys one could thing of that would be in a digital newsroom built from the ground up. So off I went scouting the location when I arrived at the shoot.

After scounting I met up with Menendez for a quick introduction.  Witin seconds of meeting and talking with her I knew I would like her.  And I did.  Menendez was very friendly, and not the friendliness that most TV personalities put out there.  She did not come off eager to be liked or to be put in a mold of who she was supposed to be.  She was just herself.  For good or bad.  She had a smart intelectual humor that mixed in equal parts of the ever so slight mix of good rounchiness and “geek” humor.  And you can see it in her slight wise cracking “this is who i am” smile that came out in the photos.

It was a great shoot and the article by writer Manuel Roig-Franzia came out wonderful.  I wish Alicia all the best on her new gig.

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On a beautiful sunny, and unusually breezy day in South Florida I found myself driving down a two way road with gigantic mansions on the left and nothing but sandy beach and ocean to my right.  I was headed to the home of the prolific writer James Patterson. I was on assignment for the Washington Post Media Company to photograph James for the cover of their upcoming style section.

When I entered into his home I was immediately in awe.  Not because of the big house or the location, but because of the amazing collection of photography that he and his wife had. And when I saw the picture of James on his mantle with a signed note at the button from your pal Harry ( as in Harry Benson) I got a tad bit nervous. First off, he knew what a good picture was and second off he was pals with some of the best photographers out there. If i screwed up, I would be getting called out by the likes of Harry Benson and Elliot Erwitt!

The assignment called for a very clean background with an emphasis on James’s eyes. I had about 15 minutes with him, mostly talking photography in between shots.  It was a real treat for me to photograph a subject with such a passion for photography.

 

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© Joshua Prezant 2013

One of my favorite clients to work for is the Washington Post Magazine. I always know when the call comes in for an assignment that it will be enjoyable. This assignment did not disappoint. I was sent out to document the “Miami Bohemian ” art scene down in Miami. The images were going along with a first person account/ travel piece that writer Sandra Beasley was doing.

SLIDE SHOW

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Miami based photographer Joshua Prezant was recetly contracted to photograph art collectors and hoteliers Donald and Mera Rubell at their 45,000 square-foot museum and home.  The Miami art powerhouse couple are opening a new museum in Washington, DC. and we were brought in to photograph them with some of their vast art collection in the background.  The couple was great to work with and in the small window of time we had with them we were able to make an assortment of images that ended up being used by both the Miami Herald and The Washington Post.

Each paper had access to the same images and each chose different images and produced vastly different layouts.  It is great to see the different approaches that the two papers took with the picture selections and the layouts. Not sure  their is a favorite, but just happy that a bunch of teh images got used and that each publication did a great job displaying the images.

See if you have a favorite:

Washington Post

Miami Herald front

Miami Herald inside

One of the best things about what I do is the fact that I get to meet amazing people from all walks of life. One recent amazing person I met and photographed was 19-year-old Danell Leyva.  He is a Miami based gymnast looking to gold at the 2012 Olympics.  That alone would have been a great story.  However, Danell’s story is much more interesting…as The Washington Post’s Amy Shipley showed in her September 14th sports front page article about Leyva and his path from a sickly boy in Cuba to a top gymnist.

The photo shoot took place at the gym where Danell trains, which is also the gym that his parents own. As I walked into the huge warehouse that housed Universal Gymnastics I was amazed to see a group of kids from 5- year-old to 17- year-old doing the most amazing things with their bodies on an assortment of gymnastic apparatices.

The assignmnet from the Washington Post called for a family portrait of Danell with his mom and stepfather. Danell parents were happy to be pulled away from their coaching duties for a few minutes for the photoshoot with Danell. Being that Danell was doing an Iron Cross, a difficult gymnatic move on the rings we had a limited amount of time to shoot while he was in position.  But Joshua Prezant Photography “stuck” the shot and everyone was happy.  I wish Danell the best of luck in making the 2012 olympics and hopefully bringing home gold for the USA.

Danell Leyva © Joshua Prezant 2011

The spread

www.joshuaprezant.com