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Sony a900

Art & Soul Sundance Diary

by Brian Smith on January 26, 2010

in Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Celebrity Portrait Photography, Sony Alpha, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony a900, The Creative Coalition, briansmith.com

Heading back from Park City, Utah where we took The Creative Coalition’s ‘Art & Soul’ project to the Sundance Film Festival shooting more celebrity portraits for the arts advocacy project which is the cornerstone of a grassroots campaign to focus national attention on the need to ensure that arts in America thrive and flourish. ‘Art & Soul’ has been used to successfully lobby Congress and the White House for increased funding for the arts and arts education. Thanks to the participation of over 40 celebrities at Sundance we have now photographed 160 celebrities to date as part of one of the greatest projects that I’ve ever been involved with. It’s a great thing for those of us lucky enough to make a living from the arts to have an opportunity to show our support and give back. Here is our story…

DAY 1 – January 22:
We started off our Sundance shoots with Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Thomas Ian Nicholas from Please Give. Wonderful air guitar rifts from Thomas who brought his vintage Gibson Sunburst guitar to Sundance. Next the lovely Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza stopped in followed by director Kevin Asch of Holy Rollers, Ryan O’Nan The Dry Land, Jon Prescott from Howl and John Ortiz of Jack Goes Boating, spoke of Al Pacino’s generosity to him as a first film Carlito’s Way.

DAY 2 – January 23:
An amazing start with the lovely Vicky Cristina Barcelona herself Rebecca Hall in town to promote Please Give, Happythankyoumoreplease’s Kate Mara, Tony Hale and Pablo Schreiber, Noureen DeWulf and Jon Prescott from Howl. The day’s highlight was a very pleasant surprise drop-in by Oscar-winner Adrian Brody – thanks to a big assist from John Ortiz who had such a good time with us the day before he sent his friend our way. I’ve always wanted to meet Adrian – not only because I’m a big fan of his work – but because very early in my career I took a workshop with his mother, renowned photographer Sylvia Plachy.

DAY 3 – January 24
Started with Michael Shannon of The Runaways then a a visit from our sponsor Silvercup Studios head Stuart Match Suna, followed by Emma Bell of Frozen, Justin Bartha of Holy Rollers, Ellen Hollman Skateland, Bellamy Young, model Emme, Nathaniel Parker A Perfect Host, 3 Backyards’ Danai Gurira and Kathryn Erbe – one of my favorite actresses for her work in Oz and Law & Order: Criminal Intent and finally High SchooI’s Adhir Kalyan who was marvelous in Youth in Revolt and Nip/Tuck.

DAY 4 – January 25:
Our day began rapid fire with Sam Jackson, Jimmy Smits and Josh Radnor and ended with ended with Adrian Grenier. Along the way we ran into lovely Kerry Washington who lobbied Capitol Hill for increased funding for the Arts with me last May. Next was Rikki Lake, High School Musical’s KayCee Stroh, Haley Ramm, of Skateland. After that, we entertained director Joel Schumacher with stories about burlesque legends Tempest Storm and Satan’s Angel. Still laughing from a wonderful laugh-filled shoot of Laura Silverman. High School’s Nadine Crocker showed up leather-clad and looking like the perfect addition to the cast of Sons of Anarchy. Chris Ashworth of The Wire who showed up with Russian bombshell Natalie Gal, Frozen director Adam Green and Drones Amber Benson, Adam Busch, Samm Levine and Tangi Miller. Before dinner at the The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative Awards we added Melissa Leo of Welcome to the Rileys, Treat Williams of Howl, Malin Akerman of Happythankyoumoreplease, snapped ‘Art & Soul’ participant Jason Ritter again, Christopher McDonald and Entourage’s own ‘Vinne Chase’ Adrian Grenier picking up his award for Teenage Paparazzo. Then chatted up Creative Coalition President and friend Tim Daly and had dinner with Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla showing off the next BIG thing, the Square, and yes..I tweeted about it…

CREDITS:
As always, my BIGGEST THANKS goes to my lovely wife Fazia who makes sure everyone always looks great! Returning the thanks to The Creative Coalition executive director Robin Bronk for the kind words at The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative Awards and to Barbara Horvath, Briana Mulherin, Liviya Kraemer, Dennis St. Rose and Gabrielle Young of TCC and assistance from BYU student Bethany Davis. David Manning of A-List Communications and his staff for put together a great lounge at Sky Lodge. Special thanks to Stuart Match Suna, head of Silvercup Studios for their sponsorship of our shoot and to Sony Artisans of Imagery director Kayla Lindquist for dropping this wonderful project on me and for finding a way to get me to Utah.

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 Zoom
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4
Sony 100/2.8 Macro
Sony Zeiss 135/1.8
Profoto Acute 2 – 2400 Packs
Profoto Acute 2 Heads

Generous support provided by:

Tagged as: 3 Backyards, A Perfect Host, A-List Communications, Adam Busch, Adam Green, Adhir Kalyan, Adrian Brody, Adrian Grenier, Amanda Peet, Amber Benson, Art & Soul, Art and Soul, Barbara Horvath, Bellamy Young, Brian Smith, Briana Mulherin, briansmith.com, Celebrity Photographer, Celebrity Portrait Photography, Christopher McDonald, Danai Gurira, David Manning, Dayana Mendoza, director, Dom Sagolla, Drones, Ellen Hollman, Emma Bell, Emme, Entourage, Frozen, Haley Ramm, Happythankyoumoreplease, High School, High School Musical, Holy Rollers, Howl, Jack Goes Boating, Jason Ritter, Jimmy Smits, Joel Schumacher, John Ortiz, Jon Prescott, Josh Radnor, Justin Bartha, Kate Mara, Kathryn Erbe, KayCee Stro, Kayla Lindquist, Kerry Washington, Laura Silverman, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Malin Akerman, Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, Miss Universe, model, Nadine Crocker, Nathaniel Parker, Noureen DeWulf, Oliver Platt, Oscar-winner, Oz, Pablo Schreiber, Photographer Brian Smith, Please Give, Rebecca Hall, Rikki Lake, Robin Bronk, Ryan O’Nan, Sam Jackson, Samm Levine, Silvercup Studios, Skateland, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Spotlight Initiative Awards, Stuart Match Suna, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Tangi Miller, Teenage Paparazzo, The Creative Coalition, The Dry Land, The Runaways, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tim Daly, Tony Hale, Treat Williams, Twitter, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Welcome to the Rileys, Youth in Revolt

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Speaking for SONY at PhotoPlus

by Brian Smith on October 22, 2009

in Education, Seminars & Speaking, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony a900

09_PhotoPlus_011_2

If you’re attending the PhotoPlus Expo in New York, come see me at the Sony Booth

Thursday, October 22:
10:00 am The Celebrity Portrait: 15 Minutes with Fame
1:45pm Art & Soul: Celebrities Support the Arts
4:00pm The Celebrity Portrait: 15 Minutes with Fame

Saturday, October 24:
1:15pm The Celebrity Portrait: 15 Minutes with Fame
2:45pm Art & Soul: Celebrities Support the Arts

09_PhotoPlus_170

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What’s in the Bag

by Brian Smith on August 25, 2009

in Brian Smith, Sony Alpha, Sony a900, Travel, Travel Photography

Traveling lighter than normal on our trip to Nepal and India with all my gear packed in a ThinkTank StreetWalker HardDrive Backpack. I’ve been using ThinkTank bags for a few years now and they have the best working design and construction in the market. But for this trip I wanted something smaller, so this backpack was just the ticket.

Nepal Camera Bag

Here’s what’s in the bag:
Sony a900 Camera
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 lens
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4 lens
Sony Zeiss 135/1.8 lens
Sony HVL-F58AM Flash
Sony NP-FM500H Batteries
13″ Apple MacBook Pro 2.53 Ghz with 500gb hard drive
500gb LaCie Rugged Hard Drives
8Gb SanDisk Extreme IV Compact Flash cards
Gepe Card Safe Extreme Watertight Case
SanDisk Extreme FireWire CF Card Reader
Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger
Sony HDR-SR11 60GB Hybrid HDD High Definition Camcorder
Giottos Large Rocket Air Blower
Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly
Delkin Sensor Scope
(16) AA Batteries
Voltage converters, chargers and plugs

The coolest little space-saver was the Sony BCTRM charger that I picked up when I was in New York before heading off to India and Nepal. It’s the perfect travel charger for the Sony Alpha cameras. It’s barely the size of the batteries, so it fits in any bag with a minimum of space. Though I bought it for my trip, it’s staying in my camera bag from now on.

Tagged as: BCTRM, Brian Smith, Charger, India, Miami Photographer, Nepal, Sony, Sony Alpha, Travel, Travel Photography

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APA|NY – Image Makers Lecture Series
August 12th at the Soho Apple Store

by Brian Smith on August 5, 2009

in APA, Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Education, Miami Photographer, Seminars & Speaking, Sony Alpha, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony a900, The Creative Coalition

APA|NY Image Makers Lecture Series
Featuring: Brian Smith: Advocacy for the Arts
Wednesday, August 12, 6:30-8 p.m.
Admission: Free (seating is limited)
SoHo Apple Theater, 103 Prince St at Mercer

Actress Anne Hathaway

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith will speak about his latest project, ‘Art & Soul’ for The Creative Coalition. The project features Smith’s portraits of celebrities along with personal messages from each artist on how exposure to the arts inspired them and positively impacted their lives.

Over 100 celebrities including Anne Hathaway, Ellen Burstyn, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, James Denton, Jamie Kennedy, Alyssa Milano and Taye Diggs have been photographed for ‘Art & Soul’ with the goal of producing a coffee table book aimed at raising the public awareness of the importance and impact of the arts by allowing creative artists to use their celebrity to shine a spotlight on the importance of the arts and arts education.

In May of this year, Tim Daly, Dana Delany, Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington and Barry Levinson of The Creative Coalition presented the Art & Soul to The White House and Congress as part of their successful effort to lobby for increased funding for the arts and arts education. Smith will discuss the story behind the commission, his approach to the shoot and the significance of being able to use his photographs for arts advocacy.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

SONY

Tagged as: Apple, Apple/APA, Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Miami Photographer, Speaking, The Creative Coalition

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The Celebrity Portrait: 15 Minutes With Fame

by Brian Smith on June 23, 2009

in Art & Soul, Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Magazine Photography, Seminars & Speaking, Sony Alpha, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony a900

THE CELEBRITY PORTRAIT: 15 MINUTES WITH FAME
with Sony Artisan of Imagery Brian Smith
When: 3-5pm, July 7, 2009
Location: B & H Photo, 420 9th Ave, New York, NY 10001

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith has been photographing with the famous and infamous faces of celebrities for the past two decades. Smith will share his favorite celebrity portraits and the stories behind them. He will discuss the importance that styling, hair & make-up and location play in adding production value to his shoots and ways to maximize the re-licensing value of the images.

He will also show his latest work for The Creative Coalition’s book “Art & Soul” which features portraits of celebrities alongside their hand-written thoughts about the importance of the arts. Through the sponsorship of Sony, Hachette Filipacchi and American PHOTO magazine, Smith photographed a series of 85 celebrity portraits over 6 days in Los Angeles and New York. In May of this year, members of The Creative Coalition took the book to the White House and Congress to lobby for support of the arts. Smith will discuss the story behind the commission, his approach to the shoot, and the significance of being able to use his photographs for arts advocacy.

Brian Smith is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and President of Editorial Photographers. His work can be seen at www.briansmith.com

Tagged as: B & H Photo, B and H Photo, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photographer, Celebrity Photography, Speaking Appearances, The Creative Coalition

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So…Did You Meet the President?

by Brian Smith on May 20, 2009

in Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Magazine Photography, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony Cybershot, Sony a900

After mentioning that I went to Washington. D.C. with the Creative Coalition to take my book ‘Art & Soul’ to Capitol Hill to lobby for support of the arts, everyone asks the same question, “So…did you meet the President?”

Unfortunately the answer to that is no.

Though it’s true that President Barak Obama received copy number 1 of 1,000 of the book hand-delivered by White House Arts Liaison, Kareem Dale. But for now, that meeting was closest I came to the President himself. So I’ll just have to settle for the bling version:

“God and Country”

I shot this at the 15th anniversary party for Slip-n-Slide Records. I’d photographed portraits Slip-n-Slide CEO Ted Lucas and their recording artists a few years earlier for The Source magazine. So when their big rolled around, they invited me to party with them at the Victor Hotel. I decided to just roll up light with a Sony a900 camera, 24-70/2.8 and HVL-F58AM Flash and as soon as I spotted this Rhinestone Obama on a T-shirt of one of the other guests, I was sure glad I did.

That’s why it’s always good to have a camera with you. Good things happen when you have a camera…

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 camera
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8
Sony HVL-F58AM Flash

Tagged as: Art & Soul, Art and Soul, arts, Barak, Bling, Obama, President, Records, Slip-n-Slide, Sony a900, Ted Lucas, White House, www.briansmithmiami.com

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Mr Smith Goes to Washington

by Brian Smith on May 7, 2009

in Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Miami Photographer, Sony a900, briansmith.com

I’m in Washington, D.C. today with The Creative Coalition joining a delegation of artists from The Creative Coalition headed Creative Coalition president – actor Tim Daly along with Dana Delany, Alfre Woodard, Matthew Modine, Kerry Washington and Rachael Leigh Cook presenting my book “Art & Soul” to The White House and Congress to support public funding for arts and arts education.

"ART & SOUL" photographed by Brian Smith for The Creative Coalit
Actors Tim Daly, Kerry Washington, Alfre Woodard and Dana Delany
The Creative Coalition in Washington, D.C.

The book features my portraits of celebrities including Tim Daly, Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington, Dana Delany, Tony Bennett, Anne Hathaway, Zooey Deschanel, Alyssa Milano, Ellen Burstyn and David Hyde Pierce accompanied by handwritten personal testimonials from each artist which express their support for the importance of the arts in our lives.

The project was made possible through generous sponsorship from Hachette Filipacchi Media, American PHOTO and Sony. My thanks to Kayla Lindquist, of Sony Artisan’s of Imagery program, Robin Bronk, Barbara Horvath and Briana Mulherin of The Creative Coalition, Jeffrey Roberts, Al Silvestri, Alissa Reynolds, Anna Martin, Athos Kyriakides, David Schonauer and Russell Hart of American PHOTO and Hachette Filipacchi Media, Eileen Gittins and Robin Goldberg of Blurb, Arri Weeks and Matthew Schulert, our fabulous digital tech from Splashlight, Joel Warren and Eddie Tricomi and over a dozen hair and make-up artists from Warren-Tricomi and Ted Okada, Steve Sommers, Phil Lubell, Kristen Elder and Mark Weir of Sony. But my biggest and deepest thanks goes to my lovely wife Fazia who always makes sure everyone always look great on our shoots – thanks for believing in me all of these years…

Friday night we’ll all be with director Barry Levinson for the Washington, D.C. premiere of his documentary film PoliWood, which examines the intersection of celebrity and politics. The film debuted last Friday to a sold-out theater at the Tribeca Film Festival. Catch it if you can! Things wrap up Saturday with the White House Correspondents’ Brunch and Dinner

Tagged as: Alfre Woodard, Art & Soul, Art and Soul, Barry Levinson, Brian Smith, Congress, Dana Deleany, Kerry Washington, Matthew Modine, PoliWood, Sony a900, The Arts, The Creative Coalition, Tim Daly, Washington DC

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American PHOTO features Haven House Celebrity Shoot in May/June 2009 issue

by Brian Smith on April 27, 2009

in Art & Soul, Books, Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Magazine Photography, Organizations, Press, Sony a900, The Creative Coalition

My thanks to American PHOTO magazine’s Editor-in-Chief David Schonauer for the great feature about our Haven House celebrity shoot in their current May/June 2009 issue. American PHOTO’s publisher Jeffrey Roberts was a key organizer of the project – my thanks to him for his support.

It just goes to show that life sometimes takes your full circle, since in my younger days as one of American PHOTO’s “New Faces”.

Brian Smith in American PHOTO magazine May/June 2009

Tagged as: American PHOTO, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Haven House, Miami Photographer, Oscar Week, The Creative Coalition

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Cupcakes from Anne Hathaway

by Brian Smith on March 18, 2009

in Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Editorial Photography, Sony Artisans of Imagery, Sony a900, The Creative Coalition, briansmith.com

We’re in New York, shooting more celebrities for The Creative Coalition’s book “Art & Soul” which will be distributed to President Obama and Congress this May. Assignments this good are really rare. Even though I’ve been l blessed with more than my share of unbelievable assignments in my career, shooting portraits of so many Oscar winners, Tony winners, Grammy winners and Emmy winners was about as cool gig as I can imagine.

Photographing Anne Hathaway is the sort of experience that can hardly be topped, except of course when Anne showed up at our shoot with a box of her favorite cupcakes for our crew. Thanks Annie for being even sweeter than I’d imagined. Thanks also to Anne’s hair stylist Ted Gibson. Not only is Ted one of the top stylists in the country, but he knows how to work a wind machine…

Actress Anne Hathaway and photographer Brian Smith

After that we headed uptown to Tony Bennett’s Central Park apartment where we talked about what the arts has meant to him, both as a singer and as an artist. Tony credits Frank Sinatra for giving his career a big break. As a way of giving back Tony founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in his hometown of Astoria, Queens.

Singer Tony Bennett

In the end we shot over 9,000 images and 350 gigs of RAW data without a single slowdown or problem. During the shoots, the artists in this book and I rarely spoke of fame, fortune or fabulous performances. We spoke about their childhoods and what led them to where they are today. Regardless of whether they grew up in small towns and large cities, rich or poor, their lives were all shaped and influenced by the arts and the artists who influenced their careers.

My thanks go out to Ted Okada, Steve Sommers, Phil Lubell, Kristen Elder and Mark Weir of Sony for their support of this project, Kayla Lindquist, director of Sony Artisan’s of Imagery program, Jeffrey Roberts of American PHOTO, Al Silvestri, Alissa Reynolds and Anna Martin of Hachette Filipacchi Media, Eileen Gittins of Blurb, and special thanks to Robin Bronk and Barbara Horvath of The Creative Coalition.

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 Zoom
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4
Sony Zeiss 16-35/2.8 Zoom
Profoto 7A 2400 Packs
Profoto 7 Heads

Tagged as: American PHOTO, Anne Hathaway, Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity, Celebrity Photography, Creative Coalition, Hachette Filipacchi Media, Sony, The Arts, Tony Bennett

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Haven House Project

by Brian Smith on February 20, 2009

in Art & Soul, Brian Smith, Celebrity Photography, Editorial Photography, Magazine Photography, Miami Photographer, Sony a900, The Creative Coalition, briansmith.com

I’ve just wrapped a three-day shoot at Haven House in Beverly Hills photographing portraits of celebrities for The Creative Coalition during Oscar Week thanks to the generous sponsorship of Sony and Hachette Filipacchi Media.

Our crew included my wife Fazia who always makes certain everyone looked fabulous on our shoots, Kayla Lindquist, Director of Sony’s Artisans of Imagery program, produced the shoot and made certain even the smallest detail was under control, Matthew Schulert, our fabulous digital tech from Splashlight never missed a beat through 5,370 exposures, Joel Warren and Eddie Tricomi and over a dozen hair and make-up artists from Warren-Tricomi.

We photographed 68 celebrities over a three-day period in Los Angeles where we shot 5,370 exposures with over 200 gigs of raw images using Sony’s a900 camera. That’s a great test of the durability and quality of a camera. The a900 never missed a beat.

The lenses are quite simply the sharpest lenses I’ve ever used. I love all of Sony’s Zeiss glass, but I’m becoming particularly fond of Sony’s Zeiss 24-70/2.8. I was able to shoot very quickly on this project using that lens to shoot 90% of the images for the book. This lens is sharper than prime lenses in that range and it absolutely blows away the competition. The remaining images for the book were shot with Sony’s Zeiss 85/1.4 that I kept mounted on second a900 body.

When you imagine shooting in a Beverly Hills mansion, you can only envision big massive rooms. Yet our shoot was relegated to a less than opulent 9×14’ maid’s quarters.

Haven House Behind-the-Scenes

Since the biggest part of photography is problem solving, we had to find a way to make it work. I decided to make our small pace even cozier by wrapping the entire set in black. Normally, the idea of using a DSLR to shoot celebrities dressed in black against a black background is a recipe for disaster. Other DSLR tend to block up in the shadows, but one of the things I love about the a900 is that it holds unbelievable detail in the shadows, so I was confident we could pull it off.

Highlights included Kerry Washington and Tichina Arnold fighting it out for bragging rights in a pose-off. For the record, in situations like that, it’s actually the photographer who wins.

Kerry Washington and Tichina Arnold

Speaking of posing, celebrity stylist Philip Bloch might very well still be posing in front of the camera if they hadn’t threatened to turn the power off on us.

My thanks to all of the celebrities who took part…Alfre Woodard, Alyssa Milano, Amy Collins, Barry Bostwick, Benji Schwimmer, Chris Mann, Damian Bichir, Dana Delany, Daniel Stern, David Hyde Pierce, DeRay Davis, Oscar-winning writer/producer Dustin Lance Black, Fisher Stevens, Frances Fisher, Gilles Marini, Gina Gershon, Harry Hamlin, James Denton, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Ritter, Jeannine Kaspar, Jeffrey Ross, Kerry Washington, Kim Kardashian, Kyson Lee, Mary Murphy, Paula Abdul, Paul Hipp, Robert Davi, Sharon Lawrence, Stephen Collins, Syd Butler, Tamala Jones, Taraji P. Henson, Tichina Arnold, Tim Daly, Wendie Malick, Vik Sahay, Zoey Deschanel, Celebrity Stylists Philip Bloch, Joel Warren, Edward Tricomi, Producer Tom Molloy, Gay-rights activist Cleve Jones, WWE Wrestlers Cody Rhodes, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Ted DiBiase, Jr., The Miz and WWE Divas Kelly Kelly, Maria Kanellis, Maryse Ouellet and Melina Perez.

Quincy Jones has suggested that it might be an opportune time to lobby President Barak Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, the United States has never created such a position. This country needs the arts–now more than ever.

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 Zoom
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4
Sony Zeiss 16-35/2.8 Zoom
Profoto 7A 2400 Packs
Profoto 7 Heads