One of the pleasures of living in NYC is certainly having the local newsstand just a short walk away (mine is across the street from another big pleasure, Chipotle). Today I spied the new issue of ESPN the Magazine (June 15) and was rewarded inside with both my feature of rad motocross driver Ashley Fiolek (story written by another rad chick, Alyssa Roenigk) and also a short and sweet “Ode” to the blocking sled with Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long. Two JLP tasty bits for the price of one!
The hook on Ashley’s story is that she is deaf but obviously no one told her that it could possibly slow her down, as she just took the crown as fastest woman racer in motocross as a rookie this season. Shooting with people who are deaf or mute or any other challenge can be tough, but often as not, and just like traveling in foreign countries, it’s all about the body language. Despite Ashley being deaf it was super easy to communicate and all of us spent the entire shoot doing a lot of laughing before hitting a local track near St. Augustine to rip it up.
Like a lot of my shoots this one was broken up into 2 parts… lit portraiture (in this case white seamless with a truck load of lights) and action/reportage. We started on the seamless in a tiny space (not easy but we made it work) shooting Ashley in her official racing gear (including the ultra heavy boots, which she even did her best Philip Halsman-esque jump in for me). My buddy Jimmy DeFlippo helped me out to keep things rolling and get everything we needed.
At the track it was pretty amazing to see a pro attacking the course just a couple of feet away (or above my head). Stupidly I totally lost my mind when I was packing for the trip and only had a pair of sandals which was especially fun in the dirt. I certainly don’t mind getting dirty (sort of live for it), and we wrapped up by playing with Ashley’s kid brother (he’s def going to be a fearless racer himself) and then listening to the most insane Elvis impersonator on record at a local dive with Alyssa and Jimmy. Basically a perfect shoot.
The inside baseball of the shoot was that I actually learned about 15 minutes before it began that the Dr. had gotten into her residency of choice and we were moving to NYC in about a month. Even if I didn’t crash the rental car, it was still tough to focus. Ultimately the technical lighting with the seamless sort of saved me and pulled me out of my head. Lugging around 8 lights can keep your head pretty clear it turns out. Here are a couple of more of Ashley that didn’t find a home in the magazine:
Next up is a quick one on a super rainy day (month?!) at the Miami Dolphins training facility with OT Jake Long in appreciation of one of the tools of the NFL trade: the lowly blocking sled. Honestly this one was brutal and sort of a miracle that we even got it in the can. Rain, last minute shoot, limited time with subject; I got a short break and got completely set up… and Jake was a bit behind schedule… and right when we get him, yep, the skies open up. So we wait around and chat. Jake is becoming a big golf fan, etc. Finally its only lightly raining (compared to hail that’s pretty good) and we run out there. 10 minutes later the skies open up again. That’s a wrap!!
Many thanks to Ashley and Jake, to photo editor Jennifer Aborn, and I guess to the weather gods? Here is another of Jake that I liked:
