Gymnast Clayton is geared for big things

I met Clayton about a year ago. Since then we have done three shoots in Massachusetts and Florida. This guy is ready to make something big of himself. A gymnast, he runs a gym in Florida but he has taken up aerial silks and along with his partner LJ, he is poised to take on the world. Word has it that he might be considering some opportunities out in Hollywood. Keep your eye out for this guy.

Drew makes waves in modeling

Drew has been a hidden gem in Florida's gymnasiums. An aerial acrobat, he was found recently hanging around a photo shoot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When approached, he was eager to test the waters of modeling and had two shoots that weekend, both in Key West. The 6'2" handsome guy is a natural in front of the camera whether on land, in the water or in the air.

Boston Fashion Week - Emerging Trends 2009

Boston's Park Plaza Hotel - Castle was the scene of a fantastic evening of fashion as a culmination to a week of Boston's Fashion Week. Designers from Boston, NY, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and London all got to show their creations on the runway in front of a crowd of about 700 people. There was a lot of creative designs from formal evening wear to summer club wear. Here are some of the photos I took that evening.

2008 US Olympic Diving Trials

Indianapolis Natatorium was the scene for putting together the US Olympic diving team for the Beijing Olympics. Divers from all over the country with hopes of representing their country in China came to test their skills against their countrymen...only a few made it. For me is was quite a shoot in that I got to work alongside the photographers from Sports Illustrated and USA Today as well as photographing some of the most incredible athletes in the nation. Here is a sampling of many of the shots I took during that week in July 2008.

Brandon

Brandon flew in from Indiana for a two day shoot with me. We had been talking about it for over a year and he finally took the plunge. Reserved, he is a really nice guy if a bit on the quiet side. We immediately hit the studio and got comfortable with each other and began to turn out some kick ass images. From there we went to the ocean in New Hampshire. But as we approached the fog settled in on the coast. This turned out to be a fortuitous situation as everyone left the beach...leaving it desolate. Brandon seemed to feel very much at home here. I would ask him to go back in the water and he willingly did it with a smile. Again some great images came from this stop. We then headed to dinner and home. The next day we were off to the waterfalls in the area after taking some reflective photos around the property. When we got to the second waterfall, one that I have used for the last four years...it was gone. The dam creating it was emptied. That forced us to look around more and just below the old falls was a huge cascade of water...you can see it in some of Brandon's photos here. After our second falls it was a quick lunch and off to the airport for his trip home and promises to work together again.

Billy Noble

Billy and I met through our mutual facebook friend Denis Dwan in Australia. Billy it turned out was doing summer theater here in New Hampshire and was interested in getting started in modeling. So we connected recently for a few hours of shooting. We were able to get the use of a farm in Moultonborough, NH and the theater in Lake Region High School in Meredeth, NH for our locations. Billy and I hit it off well immediately and had a lot of fun creating his image. Let me know if you are interested in working with Billy, he is game for most anything.

Billy is a recent University of Oklahoma graduate in musical theater and is looking to make his mark in major productions across the country.

Philip Fusco, take 2

Philip and I got started early Saturday morning for our day on Fire Island, on the southern shore of Long Island, New York. After a diner breakfast of three pancakes, three scrambled eggs and toast (for Phil), we were off for the ferry. He slept all the way to the ferry in Sayville. At the marina, I couldn't leave Phil alone for five minutes without him panicking. The guys would begin to swarm around him the moment he was alone. I had to run back to the car for a moment and before I could get back he was on his cell phone wondering when I would get back to the boat line. He looked very relieved when I came around the corner.



The day was gorgeous...sunny, a light breeze off the ocean and sugary white sand in our feet. We were there early and set up shop. As others arrived at the shore they all kept their distance from our shoot set up...it was quite humorous that no one came close with their blanket but they stood close-by enthralled that a model as hot as Phil was being shot on the beach that day. I enlisted the help of a guy near us to hold the reflector during much of the shoot. We videoed most of the shoot and if you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD2htrjkmWE you can see some of the action.


As before, Phil clicked into model mode and cranked out one amazing photo after another. He was at ease...joking with the other beachers and oogling the girls on the beach. Phil got us invited to about six parties that night but our day was only to be there for a few hours and that quickly came to an end with the arrival of our return ferry to the mainland.

It was a wonderful day of work and laughs and certainly not our last.

I need to thank N2N, Aussiebum, 2(x)ist and CockSox for their contributions of swim suits and underwear for the shoot.

Philip Fusco

A year ago I tried to work with Philip Fusco but things in NYC worked against us shooting. It was probably for the best as we both have grown in our skills, his as a model and me, a photographer. Philip and I got to spend three rainy days together in July 2009. While the weather and poor natural light made it difficult to do some of the shoots we wanted, we turned out some amazing images. Philip is an exceptional model and a real professional, always thinking about how he is looking in the camera. He likes to check the images frequently to be sure the camera is seeing what he hopes it is and if it isn't he changes what he is doing until it is perfect. He is full of ideas about the shoot and is willing to do almost anything for a successful collaboration.

We got along famously and are planning our next project before the end of the summer. Be sure to visit Phil's blog so you can see images that other photographers have gotten with him. http://phil4u.blogspot.com/

Kevin Wiltz

Marco

Marco shot with me in the summer of 2008. It was a three day shoot that got us some very cool photos for a first-time model. Marco, who is a student at Clemson, was very teachable and had a natural love for the camera. He could do well in modeling.