Picking up from my latest newsletter (want to get in on that? sign up here), fall means football and JLP was busy all summer shooting features and profiles on a variety of college and pro ballers around the country. These few just dropped so I wanted to share some behind the scenes and extra frames. I'll start with the worst, first... I've only shot at Boston College once now, but that was enough... never again. ESPN sent me up to do a really interesting story about how BC has a tough time getting exposure and recruiting nationally in such a pro sports-obsessed city like Boston (story included in the All-Boston issue on newsstands now). The players we shot were also cool (featured are RB Montel Harris and LB Luke Kuechly) however, without going into things, we ran into a gross lack of professionalism in the BC sports department and everything suffered. Anywho, here are a couple more... Next up I spent some sweaty time with Kansas City Chiefs RB Thomas Jones, who Muscle & Fitness (first time client, hooking up with former ESPN louper J-Rod at his new digs!) says has the best arms in pro ball. Dude is crazy strong, and I like his tats; plus his mom was a coal miner which is pretty awesome. This was another weird one (our original location was wall-to-wall soccer moms "exercising" while watching "The View" and drinking Frappuccinos) but we made it work, and then of course finding that awesome Greek statue "fresco" (located in a sweltering stairwell) totally made my day and the magazine found a home for the portrait as well! Note the weight (400 lbs) that TJ is ripping full sets on here... you start to understand how this man survived a dozen years (RBs average 2-3) in the NFL and gained 10,000 yards in his career. Last up is another ESPN the Mag. feature on goals that I was happy to shoot a couple of segments of (not able to share the other part yet). I went back down to my beloved U (University of Miami) to meet DT Marcus Forston whose goals include finishing his classwork and graduating above a 3.0 GPA (he's well above it already) as a criminal justice major. It's pretty cool doing a story on a stud linebacker who is also a smart kid (and a nice guy). In contrast to BC, the Hurricanes sports department came through and helped me talk our way into shooting for a very brief couple of minutes in the busy library stacks on campus (I was actually hoping to do the whole shoot here but it wasn't going to happen... librarians). Because I know you are wondering, Marcus is holding about 75 lbs of books in the shot below (and not breaking a sweat of course).

Out this month in the August issue of Men's Journal is my portrait of Baltimore Ravens LB Brendon Ayanbadejo, who in addition to being very cool and ridiculously ripped, was one of the first pro athletes to stand up for marriage equality publically when he wrote this 2009 column in HuffPo. Fast-forward two long years and this movement along with the NOH8 Campaign has gained a lot of momentum, thankfully and rightly so. MJ photo editor Kristen Fortier sent me down to my old stomping grounds in south Florida for the shoot which occured on a balmy night featuring a summer thunderstorm threatening to wash us out (the rain literally began seconds after our light test wrapped and Brendon arrived on set). Down south when it rains it really pours, which means that it rarely lasts long, so we just hung tight. In the mean time I thought to ask if BA didn't mind getting soaked -- no problem, he was game, and I pulled out a Publix grocery bag to cover a single camera/lens and went to work. The rain looked really great backlit from the stadium lights and the magazine's final select ended up coming from those unlit frames. Eventually the rain stopped, the lights came back out, and my assistant Ryan and I tore through the rest of the shoot while continuing to be super impressed by Brendon's energy, intelligence, and just general positive attitude. The stereotype of the jock has its place, and I've shot a lot of incredible athletes who seemed to be made of wood. But Brendon was a true pleasure to work with and photograph - here's hoping we get to do it again soon.

Behind the scenes of Novak Djokovic's stellar win today at Wimbledon is Priority One, a professional on-site racket stringing and customization service that top pros use, and Glynn Roberts, who I caught up with in central Florida in the spring for The Wall Street Journal Weekend's "Creating" feature. Glynn and the P1 team travel around the world to each major tournament to equip their clients (Federer, Murray, Fish, and Soderling among others) on the fly to each day's changing conditions. Glynn is a fine chap and was very patient with my ideas: wear a couple of dozen of rackets around his head or have his colleagues throw tennis balls at his noggin' while also asking him to keep a straight face. One of the cool things about visiting P1 is checking out their collection of broken rackets demolished in fits of rage by their clients. When I was a baby my dad was as a tennis pro in south Florida and I grew up loving the game, though always playing it poorly myself. I was much more into baseball and basketball later but tennis is the game I'd like to keep playing into my 30's as my body starts to rebel. Thanks to Rebecca Horne at WSJ; here are a couple more of Glynn and the P1 HQ.