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.