How I got the shot: Double Page spread in Sports Illustrated Dec 2011 Noah Flegal 900 spin

This past summer, I had just heard that Noah Flegal  had just landed his first ever 900 and then did it in competition, making him the youngest ever to do so on a wakeboard at 13.  With that feat, I knew this kid needed some exposure as no one down here was covering him.  I scheduled a shoot with his awesome mom and we shot away.  The best part was going to pick him and his posse up at their house early....7 am.  Yeah, they werent real awake yet.  " Ben, here's $20, can you stop by McDonalds and pick them up some breakfast, his mom said."  And so the day began!  My main goal was to somehow cover the 900 along with his impressive aerial arsenal.  Shooting from the tube first with a Canon 1d mark 3, Tokina 10-17 fisheye at 12mm about 5 feet infront of him got a few shots in the bag to start the day.  We then shot the rest from the boat when I was too beat to get pounded on the tube anymore.  Thats when I told the driver.... 14 year old Merrette Fay, who is Noah's awesome filmer... to keeping doing double ups at the far end, where the sun would be hitting Noah in a front lit array.  I positioned myself to the center of the boat with my Canon Mark 3 with a Canon 70-200 L 2.8 IS set on Manual focus at the center of the end of the rope when he crossed  the middle.  I also set it at 5.6.  This way when I shot the sequence the focus would not change trying to track him and I would also be able to keep him in focus on the far left and right of the frames.  I aimed so that I had the far left of the landing covered and the far right of the take off.  As soon as he hit the takeoff I held the shutter button down and let the motor drive fire away!  After what I remember the third try, he nailed it and we got the shot.  I then took the 15+ shots and layered them in photoshop on top of one another on a 12 x 18 inch 300 dpi blank doc and started the process of erasing what was needed and what wasnt, through transparency, and masking techniques.  His mom, with all her awesome support really pushed all the sponsors on all the shots especially this one in many markets.  This led to his nomination of the SI Kids Sportskid of the year and eventually his win and amazing accomplishment.  Sports Illustrated contacted me about wanting to use the photo in their opening spread on him and the rest was history. 

A few shots from the the Superhero Scramble.....

A local sprint adventure race held at Quiet Waters Park, provided an excellent opportunity to get some nutty people putting themselves into painful situations.

Cast Iron Cross Fit Marketing images for there Ad Agency

Here are a few of the many shots we got for Cast Iron Cross Fit out of West Palm Beach, FL for there winter marking Campaign.  We shot during an actual workout with raw lighting and the grunge/garage look.

Product shots: Butterflies from around the world

I was recently asked to shoot an entire product line for a small company that imports butterflies from around the world.  Encased by a clear acrylic box and meticulously arranged and mounted to perfection, each box is an art piece in itself.  Here are couple of the different butterflies that were shot from the 130 versions. 

Maternity shoot

Here are a few shots I did with my good friend Natasha who is expecting with her husband Justin anytime now!

How I got this shot.... Hurricane Earl Palm Beach 2010 Eastern Surfing Magazine Dec 2010

Hurricane Earl was a day late for many in South FL.  We all were driving up and down the coast the day before wasting time, money and confidence in all the reports.  Well the next day luckily Cheyne Cottrell and I got up really early and drove straight to Palm Beach, without checking it anywhere.  Rolled up on an indicator spot and Saw this....

From that point on we both knew it would probably be one of it not the best hurricane swells this season to hit South Florida.  It was a solid 6ft with over head sets.  Because of the current and lack of consistent barrels we figured the best thing to do was to shoot from land.  There was also only Cheyne to shoot.  With only one (pro) surfer in the water its tuff to "lineup" as we would call it.  While Chyene paddled out I set off on a hike to find a good spot to shoot.  I was carrying with me:
Canon 1D Mark 3
Canon 5d Mark 2
Canon 500 L IS lens
70-200 2.8L IS
Tokina 10-17 fisheye
Canon 16-35
Canon 1.4 and 2.0 converters  all in my Lowepro pack.

It was a hot day with hardly any wind so the first thing I did was find a semi shaddy spot with some ability to compose other buildings, trees and or people/objects in the foreground. Hiking down the beach trying to find a shady spot and a place to get a little higher was not easy.  Eventually I met a security guard willing to let me post up on the wall of a mansion.  From there I was able to get all the angles I would like, fill up my water bottle with water from there hose and answer phone call after phone call while I snapped away.  Eventually the swell started to die and after a few hours we decided to leave.  The photo ran in ESM of Andrew Fletcher was shot just as I was about to leave stepping off the wall still with the camera in hand.  Shot with my 500mm lens with 1.4x converter on my Mark 3.  While we hiked back to our parking spot we had already planned our next spot to shoot thanks to all the luxuries of modern technology.  The day continued with me swimming two more times throughout palm beach county and scoring a barrel session to ourselves at one of the best spots in S. Fl.  A good day! 

Surfline article and gallery for Surfers for Autism

 

Surfline ran an article this past week with 13 of my images from the 3rd Annual Surfers for Autism Event.