The Life Of A Media Photographer - Vanilla Ice

Yesterday I did a celebrity photo shoot with Vanilla Ice - Rob Van Winkle. He is involved in a new venture The Car Loft and will be at Supercar Weekend to market the venture.



It was an interesting experience and I had the whole scene set but unfortunately it didn't work out as planned but still worked okay. The gang and I met at Dr. Feelgoods in West Palm. Getting a car to the spot I wanted wasn't going to happen today so I needed to go for plan B.

I still got the shot but I had a backseat driver involved, Rob - Vanilla Ice. One time he took my camera from me and pointed out different angles I should shoot from. I told Rob, sounds great Rob I will try it but your next concert I am taking your Microphone from you and singing Ice, Ice Baby. He then mentioned I was on stage with him at the Hard Rock with the camera and we both laughed. Several shots later Rob was at it again, playing back seat driver and I basically said with a strong voice let me do my job that is what I am here for. There was silence and nothing else was said after that. After the shoot we all wished each other a Happy Valentine’s Day and I headed home.


Whatever the situation and whoever you are photographing what it comes down to is you are the photographer. You the photographer set up the shots and you need to be in control of the situation.

The Life of a Media Photographer - Tiger Woods

Well you remember in my last Blog I mentioned I always ask the person I am photographing for a picture, well this might be one of those exceptions, if it's Tiger Woods who has been M.I.A

It was a rainy windy cold day here in South Florida and I got an early morning call regarding Tiger Woods from the paper. Woods might be at his boat Privacy and I needed to go check it out. I was not happy about this. First thing I did was open the computer and find out where his boat is. Great, it is over an hour away. I packed up my camera and off I went. With my wind shield wipers on, I trekked up to North Palm Beach. I didn't realize there would be a guard gate so I tried my best but couldn't get in. If Tiger Woods was at his boat and I trekked up here in the rain I was not leaving without a picture of him.


I took a drive around the marina and parked my car pretty close by. I walked over to an area and noticed from a distance a gate around the marina. Holding an umbrella in one hand that kept blowing backwards from the wind, a bag with my camera in it in the other hand I walked thru a large field of shrubs. My pants getting quite wet from the rain, and cursing under my breath I was not giving up. I noticed my pants getting all the spiky thorns on it that feel like needles. I was getting quite frustrated, quite wet and concerned about the camera. At that moment I noticed the opening in the fence. I slipped thru to the marina and with the wind blowing, I held on to the fence to make it all the way around without falling in the water. I walked thru the open parking lot with a little bit of difficulty but talked my way through it.

In the distance I saw Tiger Woods boat Privacy. How did I know it was his boat, it was the only boat with the sign covered: 0. I saw the ladder was down but didn't see any people on the boat. There were people loading things on the boat near it but no luck. I waited around hoping to see a fancy car pull up or a big black SUV with dark windows, or possibly a car with a window crashed in from a golf club but no luck.

I walked around the Marina still holding the umbrella and pulled out my camera from the bag. I noticed all the Paparazzi in front of the boat in the water on little boats that they rented. It actually looked like they carpooled together. I thought to meet Tiger head on coming on or off the boat or out of a car but no luck.  However, I was successful in that I didn't give up and I did get a few shots of Tigers boat Privacy.  Heading out I walked straight out the main entrance and didn’t look back. Dried the droplets of water off my backup camera and headed back home.

Super Bowl XLIV - My story

I can't tell you how excited I was to photograph the Super Bowl and it was an amazing experience. But it wasn't a day where you just point the camera and shoot.  Expect the unexpected.  I am a person that loves moving around and catching the action and that's what this 16 hour day was all about.

The day started out carpooling with three other photographers from the paper to the game as we were given one parking pass.  We all had a different assigned job at the Super Bowl.  Two of the photographers I was with are field photographers, meaning they stay on the field and shoot the game with 400mm lenses and they wear red vests. Their was a third person that assists the field photographers and helps with the editing of the pictures and what ever else they might need. He is called the messenger.  Then their is me.  I had pretty much full access to the stadium and was allowed to shoot on the field and the suites and did all my editing if needed and uploading of images. I was there mainly to photograph celebrities but shoot the game too if I liked.

We got to the stadium at 12pm, nice and early but you could never be too early because of security checks and learning the policies and procedures.  We then all went to the photo media room where we set down our laptops.  It is the area where their is WIFI and we transmit.  It is an interesting room the way it is laid out.  Right when you walk in is the Sports Illustrated Spot "Well Excuse Me", across from them is The New York Times section, and the spots go down the line from their.  Yes, the South Florida papers were a little away from the main door.."Something wrong with this picture".

After setup I was very excited to go check out the field.  It was already busy with camera men and commentators setting up.  I had some time to kill so I had to get my first hotdog of the day and buy a couple of souvenirs.  Wearing two cameras around my neck all day and a backpack is not that easy but it is part of the job.  Then the fun really started to begin!

I got on the field and started shooting at about 1pm.  Being interviewed were several past Heisman trophee winners on one side of the field and Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and David Spade on the other side.  At first I didn't know the celebs were on the other side of the field but after speaking with the makeup lady who was powdering up Deon Sanders shine on his forehead, I struck up a conversation with her and she told me about the break down of people being interviewed for that day.

A big part of getting the shots is not only finding out who who is attending the Super Bowl but possibly where they might be.  Well it didn't take me long to figure out that most of the big movie stars were on the 3rd level but even knowing this, with the very tight security it was tough.  I knew some people I wanted to photograph will need to go to the bathroom and take cigarette breaks.  I decided to constantly move up and down the halls on the suite levels and go thru the seats in the stadium..I was on a mission to find every celebrity at the game.  I found most of them meaning dozens and they were quite pleasant.  I am a photographer that prefers asking nicely for a picture and let the person know who I am shooting it for.  After all, how many of us have untagged pictures of ourselves on Facebook because we didn't like the way we looked.  Celebrities deserve that too and thousands to millions of people might see the picture you took of them.  At least this goes for close up shots.

One of the craziest things I did at the game was spotting Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore walking on the side of the field. I spotted them from half way on the other side of the field.   During play I ran along the side of the field bending all the way down, knowing I needed to get a picture of them..Several video cameras followed behind me at that moment..It was too funny.  I got the shot and even then I asked Ashton first for a picture.

Their are a couple of tunnels thru the stadium and during one time around I spotted Laurence Fishburne in the tunnel and asked for his picture.  I got several tips as well during the game.  Like Miss America being in a certain suite and Condoleeza Rice .  I think it was time to see who might be on a cigarette break and that is where I spotted John Mellencamp.  Cool guy, I actually cooked for him a number of times at a restaurant when I was a Chef  in NYC.

I can't say it is easy to find my way around the stadium and knowing exactly where the elevators and stairs are at all times so during the Who performance, I got stuck up at the suite levels.  But I think that is when I ran into John Travolta, very nice guy and very personable.  He told me he flew his jet to the game but then again you probably new that.

I think it was after half time when I decided to go back on the field and then dump my 3rd round of pictures up to cyberspace to get posted live on the Palm Beach Post website.  No time to edit them, because I could have missed opportunities.  During the time on the field I was right near the end zone and the players were pretty close.  I then realized I better bend down low and get ready to get the shot because Saints were about to score a touch down.  I couldn't believe I shot the touch down with the player diving right into the end zone in front of me. Freaking awesome experience!

Photographing Brad, Angelina and there son Maddox was not fun.  I thought one of the security was my friend and I had a hunch they might be going one way but I was tipped they would be going the other direction.  I should have went by my gut feeling.  They made a dash for the elevator and I made a dash for the stairs and got the shot of the three of them.

I caught the end of the game, the award ceremony, lots of shots of Kim Kardashian, her mom, Reggie Bush and a lot of emotional moments with the Saints and ther families.  Those moments will always stay with me.  It was a great day, a great sport and I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to be apart of it.
My 4th batch of images I uploaded to the paper, grabbed another hotdog from the media tent on the way out and carpooled home.

My pictures from the Super Bowl posted in the Palm Beach Post hit an unprecedented record for the paper.  280,000 hits in two days.