Super Bowl Media Day

I made the trek to Raymond James Stadium today to shoot the NFL Super Bowl XLIII media day with players from the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We had one hour to ask whatever questions we wanted and shoot whatever photos we could manage while trying not to get smushed in the crowd. The sun was out and lit all of the interview tables from directly behind, a flash was recommended for the players wearing hats.......all of them!

The biggest throngs of reporters and cameramen were obviously around the quarterbacks and head coaches.

All in all it was a pretty easy day and we were hustled off of the field before the team photos were taken. The Cardinals seemed very professional, focused and uptight, while the Steelers were overly relaxed and joking, even shooting their own video memories with handheld camcorders. Lets see how Sunday goes, I'll try to post game photos on Monday.

Rolex 24

I went out Saturday afternoon carrying 2 bodies, a tripod and plenty of CF Cards in the hopes of shooting some great images and more test footage in High Definition 1080p video. The race was pretty boring with no major crashes so my buddy Donald and I just kept walking the inside of the track before the light disappeared behind the grandstands. We knew that we had about 1 hour of good light before the sun sank away. I shot more video than I did stills on this job and the camera (5DMKII) held its own. 

Images were captured with a 400 f2.8, a 70-200 f2.8, a 15mm and a 24 TS lens.

Keep me in mind if you need any images of the Daytona 500, Sprint races, motorcycles or NASCAR Truck series.

Check out the video below:

Rolex 24 Hours Race from Alex Menendez on Vimeo.

Castel Lager

Here are a few images that I shot earlier this year for Castel Lager. This beer is produced and distributed throughout South Africa and England and for some strange reason, they chose to shoot the television commercials and print ads in Orlando. The clients were very fun to work with, the main lady was from South Africa and was as kind as humanly possible, the two art directors were from France and had to purchase more luggage to bring home all of the pairs of shoes they purchased, literally dozens. The American dollar was not worth anything and they were loving the deals at the outlet malls.

Anyhow, the lighting guys did a fantastic job of gaffing this job and the results show. The skies were sunny but the air temp was somewhere around 40 degrees, cold for Central Florida.

The shot of the beers in the ice was fun to light. We placed 2 small lighting fixtures in to the ice in a bathtub behind a fish tank filled with ice, the bottles were highlighted from the bottom of the tub through the ice and fishtank. A small bounceboard was placed in the tub with a silver metal reflective side facing the beers. We then had two light on stands forming an "x" pattern from beside the bottles. We then used a chimera directly above the beers and that light bounced off of the card onto the labels of the beer bottles. 

A slight adjustment of the RAW files in photoshop yielded the results you see.

Photoshelter

I had great news at the beginning of last year. Photoshelter was starting a new stock agency named "The Collection" and it would turn the stock industry upside down, and they wanted to feature a photo of mine along with 8 others as a promotional mailout to buyers all across the world, right on!!! 

 Well, to be honest it got a lot of press and I actually sold something on their site, but then the inevitable happened, "The Collection" closed its doors and the industry began its rapid demise. Today the stock model continues to be a joke as prices keep dropping like a rock and every person with a camera thinks that they are a pro photographer.  Whats a guy/girl to do???, just stick with it if that is what you truly want to do, only try to do it a little bit different. 

Change up the angle, experiment a little, don't run with the crowd, stand out above it and challenge yourself, get a different perspective. If you don't adapt then you will grow stale, from what I hear its very lonely.... 

Brian Laye'

I received a call from Doni at the agency Keene-Ideas about  shooting a few images for a CD cover in Clermont, Florida. The artist is a young man named Brain Laye and he is releasing an album entitled "2 Koi". He plays guitar and sings and needed the album art done for a demo that he is handing out at the Cannes Film Festival this week, talk about quick turnaround. The shoot was completed in just under 2 hours and Tim from Chameleon Mobile Video shot behind the scenes for bonus coverage.

I really enjoy this type of work and the chance to break out the big lights while shooting outdoors. The talent and crew were wonderful to work with and I hope Brian hits it big time!

Gators win BCS

My wife Tara and I went to the BCS Championship game between the Florida Gators and the number one ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Miami last week. I had previously shot the Gators winning the National Championship in Arizona against the Ohio State Buckeyes and promised her that when the Gators were in the Big Game again, we would go. Here it is 2 years later and it was time for me to step up to the plate. We were denied media credentials by the Orange Bowl committee, (whatever???), so we went the StubHub route this game and brought the brand new Canon 5dMKII  21 megapixel camera with HD 1080p video capabilities, you can see the test footage of the game here : http://www.vimeo.com/2814383 .

The Gators won, lead by last years Heisman winner Tim Tebow. Lets see what happens next year as he decided to pass on the NFL this year and will return to Gainesville for another whopping NCAA football season. 

Gatorland

• Any person that has ever ventured into Central Florida has surely seen the billboards promoting Gatorland.  Reptiles abound and man challenges gators by wrestling them into submission, you can even see them eat chicken meat......Colonel Sanders would be so proud. On December 31 our Florida resident annual family pass expired so I grabbed my 5 year old Blaze and we headed out to smell the attraction one last time. I brought a 70-200 and he brought his point and shoot. These are the best images we could come up with, however, if you want to snap your own images be sure to check out the $20 early morning ticket to enter the gates just after sunrise. Blaze and I are waiting to venture out there after dark with our cameras and a flashlight, it will be fun.
  

Orlando Magic Pt.1

• The Orlando Magic have been on a tear as of late and have been voted by ESPN and TNT and all of the basketball experts as one on the top 3 teams in the NBA today, and possibly set to make it to the Finals this year.
• I have had the unique opportunity and privilege to shoot Dwight Howard for the past few years and have been thoroughly impressed with his skills, I sure hope he will be one of the all-time greats if not the best someday.  I plan on covering the Magic for the rest of this year and hopefully follow them into the new Arena that will open next season in Orlando.

Vince Carter

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I have had the unique opportunity to work with Adeo Media Group on several occasions and most recently with their Project Pressure Campaign.  We have shot numerous television commercials for the local market as well as print and internet ads. NBA superstar Vince Carter, who was raised in Central Florida, donated his time to Adeo for the second time in two years to help with this project. All in all the whole shoot lasted about 7 minutes and then Vince was off. It was kind of cool to have him drive to my tiny office for the shoot but he had a great time and Rob from Adeo did a great job as the artist for the final products.

Chargers in Florida

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped out of the NFL playoff picture with 4 consecutive losses to end the season. To say the fans were upset would be an understatement. Tampa had high hopes once again this year, only to collapse like they have the past few years.

The "good news" for the city is that this years Superbowl will be held at Raymond James Stadium in February. I have been granted access to the week of game festivities and hopefully we be blessed with a pass to actually shoot the game, only time will tell. Here are a few photos of the Buccaneers playing the visiting San Diego Chargers. 

Campaign Trail

I had never really covered a campaign before this year's Presidential election and thought it would be cool to follow Hillary, Barack, McCain and the rest of the appointed. What ensued was 4 trips throughout Central Florida and 4 very unique views of how the elected chose their words and mannerisms to sway voters. I have always thought politics were a joke and after seeing the campaigns and volunteers, I now feel strongly about what these elected officials must endure on a daily basis. I would not want to walk in their shoes and can't imagine how hard it would be to keep everybody happy, all of the time. Hopefully this country will continue to grow and get back on its feet, for the sake of all Americans.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the campaign trail.  I hope I get the opportunity to film President Barack Obama again.