RUNNING WITH THE DOLPHINS

A winless regular season start for the Miami Dolphins finally turned as they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 38-10 at Land Shark Stadium. My photography coverage included images of Ronnie Brown carrying the ball 20 times to lead a stout Dolphins rushing attack with 115 yards and two touchdowns. Ricky Williams carried the ball 16 times for 85 yards and a touchdown while wearing the Breast Cancer Awareness pink gloves to bring more color to his game. Its the Jets Monday night at home, then I will travel to New York City and again cover the Jets/Dolphins rivalry at Giant Stadium in the Meadowlands. I love shooting football in the fall in the north, perfect temperatures.

PANTHER GOLD

The Florida Panthers season started in Sweden this month but moments before they got on the plane to cross the Atlantic I had a portrait session with the goalies Scott Clemmensen and Thomas Vokoun at the Bank Atlantic Center. Part of the joy of this assignment was watching my friend attorney/ 'photo assistant of the day', Paul Valmert; he plays amateur hockey four days a week and buys season tickets to the Panthers' games, he had a chance to have some one-on-one time with these guys. Very little time, the team allowed five minutes for the portrait session. All I needed was three minutes.

NEW YORK CITY GALLERY OPENING

Recently I partnered with ART PHOTO EXPO GALLERY, they are a Parisian couple that started the ARTPHOTOEXPO FAIR, created and produced by ART PHOTO EXPO CONCEPT GROUP as an avant-garde fair showcasing the world’s leading photographic art galleries. The first ARTPHOTOEXPO FAIR debuted in 2008 as a boutique gallery-based fair within established IN FASHION PHOTO exhibition. The Fair received a terrific response from the public, press and exhibiting galleries with over 30,000 attendees in 6 days, $2.5 million in press coverage and sales figures that exceeded expectations. During Art Basel 2008, ARTPHOTOEXPO FAIR offered a prime location and über chic space design, to ensure that a maximum number of art collectors and enthusiasts had access to the best photographic artworks. The main feature was the Naomi Campbell retrospective.

On September 14^th, they opened their New York City location in SoHo, on West Broadway. The Art Photo Expo Gallery is in the former shoe store of Natalie Portman, where she sold limited edition shoes. Currently I have six of my father’s photographs from the 60's of Ali, Elvis and the Beatles hanging along with the works of some of the finest examples of fashion photography. My father’s collection hangs in the vintage section along with the works of Helmut Newton and photographs of Bridget Bardot, Steve McQueen and Alfred Hitchcock.

I attended the opening with two close friends, Ronna Gradus and Jill Bauer, they are currently in discussion with HBO about their documentary, “Sexy Baby”.

www.artphotoexpo.com

A DIRECTOR WITH A MISSION - PROJECT:NEW BORN

In creating Bella Famiglia Photography, it’s chief mission is to photograph women pregnant in the lush garden in my backyard, I also wanted to contribute my photography in a way that would benefit in a meaningful way. I was introduced to Schatzi Kassal, one of the founders of Project: New Born.

Project: New Born is a nonprofit philanthropic organization founded in 1973 by a group of committed and dynamic women who devoted themselves to raising much-needed funds for maintenance and support of the Project: New Born Neonatal Special Care Center, a facility for imperiled premature and high risk infants located at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. In 1986 Project: New Born was joined by the Infantry, an offspring group of young energetic men and women, dedicated to the same goals and pledged to support the annual funding necessary to provide the best possible care for the babies.

Schatzi gave me a tour of the unit one Saturday morning, and it was remarkable how the facility welcomed us to the unit. You could tell Project New Born has been a great contributor to the success and survival rate. We walked through the three units watching the tiniest babies I have ever seen breath and wiggle their tiny fingers and toes. But what tears your heart out is the sight of the mother and father fixed in a stare, watching the child for hours, some throughout the night.

This is when I got my vision, I wanted to help and my idea felt right! I want to shoot a series of portraits that will line the hallway leading to the unit. The portraits will be of former patients in the unit, remember PNB has been involved for over thirty years. These former ICU survivors will be holding recently released infants. The message: yes, although this is a scary time to watch your newborn child in an incubator, the message from the images in the hallway will say, yes there are plenty of happy endings in this unit. A message of hope!

Together with Dr. Teresa del Morel and Paula Lalinde, Ph.D., we plan to start the project soon. Everyday the unit sees another baby and that only means there is another mother and father that need to be reminded of HOPE!

At our last meeting they were generous and asked me to join the Board of Directors of Project: New Born. I have also been named a "Saturday Ambassador", if you would like a tour please contact me.

MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK SWIM, SOUTH BEACH

My annual dip into swimwear fashion photography at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim: models on the runway at the Raleigh Hotel on South Beach.

GIL GREEN: MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR

Gil Green, urban storyteller, has directed the videos for some of music best know acts: Linkin Park, Fat Joe, Lil Jon, Trick Daddy, Pit Bull, Flo Rida, and Lil Wayne. But I rolled up on Gil as he was directing a video in one of Miami’s toughest neighborhoods in Liberty City Green had taken over an inner-city project using the residents as extras for a video he was shooting of Black Dada’s remix single “Imma Zoe”.

Between takes Gils was easy to approach and work with for my photograph. With no shortage of funky props, I eyed the candy red classic convertible, and had Green jump in the back seat and pose but only after he removed the cast from his injured arm. Never looking through the camera I held it high over my head to capture Green immersed in the red seat, as you can tell he is very tall with arms that outreached the beam of the car.

Green isn't looking for the stereotypical rap video, "There is a way to think and step out of the box and interpret the music in a positive way."

After the short shoot I followed him as he directed the cameras rolling through the complex and getting the residents to just be themselves as the rapper and music turned the place into a mid-afternoon dance club.

THE JET SETTERS

MIAMI SOCIAL, the latest reality-show from BRAVO about our own South Beach. Cameras follow seven of SoBe socialites as they hang out every bit of their personal, professional life and then watch them morph into party animals at night. The show does a great job of making South Beach look sexy and beautiful; and yeah if your watching the show in Kansas you would be thinking, “Wow, let me get some botox pumped into my forehead and jet-off to SoBe.” I had a photo session with three of the cast members, Ariel, Sorah and Hardy, at the roof top pool at the Gansevoort South Hotel Spa on South Beach. Up close, real nice, easy to work with and very polite, but on the show I’m not sure they would invite me into their VIP section at the club.

Then there was Paris; we spent the afternoon together at the U.S. Federal courthouse in Miami. Paris Hilton, the ultimate jet setter who probably wouldn’t invite the MIAMI SOCIAL cast into her VIP section, was being sued by film investors; who claim she failed to promote the DVD release of her 2006 film Pledge This. And with Paris, the coverage was not about the court case; it was about her choice of shoes, “what did Paris wear to court today”. I think my picture illustrates that her shoes look a size too big, a little too much room in the heel.

CHILDREN'S TRUST

THE CHILDREN'S TRUST, MIAMI HEART GALLERY held it's opening at the Freedom Tower in Miami on Friday, June 12th. I had two images displayed in the gallery, one of two sisters Georgianna and Georgie, I shot at Fair Child's Gardens. This was a group effort by mostly South Florida photographers, stylist and the Trust. I was honored to participate along with fellow photographers Carl Juste, Jeffrey Salter and Al Diaz.

MIAMI, FL – June 12, 2009 – For the second consecutive year, The Children’s Trust is spearheading an initiative promoting the adoption of foster children in Miami-Dade County called the The Children’s Trust Miami Heart Gallery. This groundbreaking work in Miami-Dade County seeks adoptive parents for 58 children, and the museum-quality exhibit features portraits of those available for adoption, photographed by some of the world’s top photographers. Based on a national model of other Heart Galleries in cities across the United States, the Miami Heart Gallery captures the unique personality of the children through portraits taken at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Amelia Earhart Park. The photographs will be on exhibit to the public from Saturday, June 13 through Sunday, July 12 at The Freedom Tower, located at 600 N. Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132. The exhibition will be open Tuesdays thru Fridays, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. and on Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. and will subsequently travel to different venues throughout Miami-Dade County.

SPJ AWARD

Miami Herald reporter Casey Woods and I traveled to Bimini to find human smugglers for a story, a task we thought would be difficult. An island swamped with pirates and smugglers in the 70’s and 80’s, we thought it would be a distant history. Well, one thing we didn’t count on, most smugglers from the last century still lived on the small island. And still dabbled in the trade.

It was part of a larger project for the Miami Herald on immigration. The SPJ awarded two of my fellow photographers and me second place in FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES.

Society of Professional Journalists The Miami Herald; Carl Juste, Charles Trainor, Jr. & John Van Beekum; Illegal Immigration: Changing Course

Comments: A sweeping and powerful story on illegal immigration. The entry shows a consistently high level of photography throughout the entire story

Miami Herald photographer Patrick Farrell also won in first place BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY The Miami Herald; Patrick Farrell; A People in Despair: Haiti’s Hurricane Season
Comments: Comments: Patrick’s picture is beautiful and compelling. He captured a tragic moment during a horrific time that truly spoke to the struggle of the Haitian people. This man, embracing his lifeless daughter, is an emotionally engaging picture that was sure to stop readers’ in their tracks

Image above: Rudolph Lambert Kemp, an admitted smuggler and pirate, stands next to ship wreckaged off the west coast of Bimini.

PROUD PULITZER

On Thursday, May 28^th, my dear friend Patrick Farrell was honored with a Pulitzer Prize from Columbia University. He won in the Breaking News category for his coverage in Haiti, A People in Despair: Haiti’s Hurricane Season www.pulitzer.org/works/2009-Breaking-News-Photography. Since he won the constant remark I hear is, “it couldn’t of happen to a nicer guy”, and may I add, ‘or a better friend.” We are all proud of you Patrick! Images above are from his winning entry.

MEMORIAL DAY

A late Memorial Day post but a worthy one. Costello, my godson, and I shopped for the soldiers at war today. For the last two years we have shipped supplies to the soldiers through www.anysoldier.com. We have made a commitment to send a selection of the supplies they requested on the site several times a year. You can actually pick a soldier from any state and view his unit’s list.

After traveling the state in 2007 photographing the parents of soldiers who lost their children in the war, I was moved to do what I could to help and support the soldiers. It taught me that until you sit in the living room of a family that lost their child in the war, you would never truly understand its consequences.

Images above: Costello and his sister Carmela with the supplies. And Harry and his family, they buried their son in their backyard near Tallahassee. A request he gave his father before leaving for Iraq.

ELIANA AND JONAH

BELLA FAMIGLIA PHOTOGRAPHY: Eliana Salzhauer with her son Joshua on the swing and pregnant with Jonah. Jonah was born on August 27th and weighed 8lbs 4ozs at birth. Eliana is a producer with CBS and is back to work.

ART BASEL 2008

My maternity portraits are the latest projects I have passionately pursued with my camera. (www.bellafamigliaphotography.com) I was inspired to be a photographer by the images my father shot in his years as Director of Photography at The Miami Daily News. One of his young protégés, Michael O’Brien, was drawn with a mission to photograph the underprivileged living in Miami’s poorest neighborhoods, resulting in numerous awards and interest. This lead to my project called “THE CORRIDOR.” I documented the neighborhoods between I-95 and the railroad tracks to the east from Deerfield Beach to Overtown. I return every nine years to re-photograph five of the subjects and show how their lives have changed. (www.charlestrainorjr.com) And it has always been for the better. (Images above: Ralph at age 6, with his new home at 15 and at FAMU at 24)

After 18 years into the project I felt it was complete enough to try and hang in a gallery during Art Basel 2008. Ignacio Gurruchaga, owner of the INDEPENDENT GALLERY in Wynwood worked with me tirelessly but he also helped to hang my father’s photography. My father covered Miami as a photographer when the city was beginning to come into its own. In the 50s and 60s the city hosted iconic individuals; Elvis Presley, The Beatles, candidate and soon to President John F. Kennedy, Cassius Clay and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, he had an infamous impact on the city. This was mid-century Miami, a time when the world was seeing this city take its place on the international set. We called the show “INTERSECTION”, a city where these iconic figures almost bumped shoulders within a few short years. The show was an incredible experience, two rooms filled with photographs from two generations from the same city, the same family, my family.

Opening night was busy with a curator from New York buying three Corridor prints without hesitation. Then my friend Kerry Sanders of NBC News delivered as promised, he walked in with Kimberly Marrero, Curator and Art Advisor at the Guggenheim in New York City. She loved both shows encouraging me to contact the International Center of Photography and show them The Corridor. The show hit its final peak one night when Ignacio called me and said Lenny Kravitz is in the gallery and wants to meet you. After four hours of talking photography, Lenny is also a photographer, we traded prints and planned to meet later and pursue a project together. He is on tour in Europe now and has just recorded a new album. This was truly a treat, and he is truly an artist in every aspect, the image he offered me could hang in any gallery respectfully. I currently have several projects or shows in the works for Art Basel 2009. And yes, my mother was at the show.

IT BEGAN AT THE BEACH

After a year of shaping my vision for a new photography business I’m finally close to marketing the photography site. Bella Famiglia Photography started with my friend Buddy, owner of the SouthPort Raw Bar, asking me to photograph his pregnant wife Noi. When asked I immediately remembered the photograph I shot of my godson’s mother on Fort Lauderdale beach. Veronica and I were driving along A1A near Las Olas, I had a white Roman column in the back seat of my car and she was 8 months pregnant. I suggested we take the column on the beach and have her sit on the column for a photograph, with a Hasselblad film camera. I think it took less than five minutes to shoot the picture.

Fast forward 11 years, me with more photography experience and seeing the same image with Noi except executed with location lights and the latest digital equipment. A full fashion shoot, the one that makes the bathers wonder who is that famous model. We arrived at the beach, battled 20kt winds with flying sand, I used Buddy as a light stand to hold the soft box and watching him point the light everywhere but at his wife. The shoot was a total struggle. But the reward came at Noi’s shower, she unwrapped the picture and began to cry, months of carrying the child she expressed her love for Buddy and how he has been a wonderful husband while she held the framed print. It only equaled the time that Todd, my godson’s father and Veronica’s husband, walked into my house and saw the photograph of his wife with child on the column on the beach. “The most beautiful picture I have ever seen," Todd said.

I couldn’t think of any better reason for Bella Famiglia Photograhy to be, I had taken photographs that truly offered my closest friends a special memory to have for life. And those memories will always be with me, and it makes Bella Famiglia Photography a passion more than a business.