On Assignment: Punta Cana

After my dumb post full of gloating last week, I wanted to follow up with a short summary about the strange assignment that reconnected my relationship to Golf Magazine for a last-minute portrait in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) of Donald Trump at his new mega resort development CapCana.

Like most other assignments in the Caribbean, this job proved to be logistically tricky, especially since I didn't get any real details until Friday morning (and still didn't learn some of the most important bits until I had actually boarded the plane at the airport). On Friday morning I was woken up pre-8 a.m. (not a problem because I was already up and waiting for my assistant to arrive to my apartment for another job in Coconut Grove for People) by my editor with the news that I had to get to Punta Cana that night. However, because I was already booked in the middle of that day, I couldn't manage to get the last direct flight to PUJ at 1 p.m., and also could not take a early flight Saturday morning (because Donald wanted to do the interview first thing).

So the remaining option was a late-afternoon flight (which was delayed twice - late arrival and broken cargo door) from Miami to Santo Domingo, followed by a 3-hour drive over the mountains to Punta Cana in a hired car. Further complicating the whole situation was that also at the last minute the art director decided that I really did need to bring a light kit with me (instead of the reflectors that I had already gotten the editor to agree to). We (the girlfriend/assistant (above in the CapCana lobby) -- double duty this weekend! -- and I) finally arrived to our hotel/resort just before midnight and were right away completely disoriented by the all-inclusive surreal-ness of the place.

And that's the thing... Punta Cana doesn't seem to belong in the D.R. at all. It's a weird other place, not belonging anywhere, catering to well-to-do clientele from around the world who would rather experience the Disney version of "the Islands" than actually bare any sort of discomfort (other than the oppressive heat).

After not enough sleep the girlfriend and I lugged our gear to an awaiting SUV and were shuttled with the writer into the CapCana resort. We traded the SUV for a deluxe golf cart and were soon at Trump's villa, where I quickly got to work getting lights and set-ups ready for action. This was one of the kind of assignments where you are warned that the celebrity/big wig subject will give you almost no time or flexibility, "so get everything that you can and just shoot the lights out!" After creating 2 different set-ups within 20 feet of the back of the villa (I wasn't allowed to bring Trump far), I went back to shoot some "Playboy-style" interview shots of him gesticulating and making various faces. Ohh, ahh... serious Trump, laughing Donald, pensive Trump, etc.

Somewhere in here is where the shoot took a strange turn. Simultaneously it seems like Trump decides that he likes us (especially the writer and my girlfriend/assistant -- who caused him to stop in mid-sentence when she came in to the villa to ask me a question during the interview... you are right, Don, I am a lucky guy!) but doesn't really dig the formal interview/photo shoot dynamic. After the short talk with the writer he reluctantly follows me out for the formal portraits. I got a total of maybe 15 solo minutes, most of which was spent with Trump asking if he could wear a hat ("no" but then he stopped asking and just did), and how much he hates wide angle lenses (the widest I shot with was a 28). Before I could say "we are done" he was already sort of walking away from the 2nd set-up.

To be fair Trump had a busy day lined up -- giving tours to investors who had gathered at CapCana to take part in a lottery to win the pleasure of spending millions of lots of land in the exclusive resort (the development group made more than $300 million that afternoon). But because he apparently liked us (not so much me!), his people called us 5 minutes after he left us that morning to ask if we want to hang out with Trump and sort of tag along. Duh. Of course. Hopefully this was a chance to get something of him that was not perfectly automatic and plastic.

Ultimately though I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted from the formal lit portraiture, I spent another 5+ hours shooting documentary stuff of Trump on the move. Schmoozing, selling, doing quick video spots during a long tour (it was his first time at CapCana also), eating, playing golf, shaking hands, posing for pictures, waxing poetic on his "empire." The writer and I ended up getting a TON of stuff. And by the end of the day we were both invited to play golf with Trump and his golf course's pro (I was invited to play, not shoot, and I don't play golf).

Exhausted and very-red from the tropical sun (I didn't put any sunscreen on because I didn't expect to have more than 30 mins of exposure), Judy and I retired back to the resort. We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying ourselves in our Disney-fied "paradise," and then managed (despite a very close call) to make our flight back on Monday having completed both a successful job and mini-vacation all at once.

The story won't be running until the fall so I'll have to wait until then to share some pics. After spending most of the day with Trump I don't really know him anymore than I did before this trip. For my part he was generous to us and everyone around us (but he also had something to gain from each of us, even if that gain didn't amount to that much for a guy in his position). I can say that it is impressive to be around a guy like Trump, who lives and operates on this huge scale, with dozens of giant projects going on simultaneously. He has vision and his business acumen is incredible, but I wouldn't trade shoes with him.

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Comments (2)

Fist i'm honored that you got to come to the D.R. i'm read your blog all the time.
Where can i see some of the shots you got of Mr. Trump

What do you mean when you say "Punta Cana doesn't seem to belong in the D.R. ".
Could you explain this?
Thank you
Angel Gonzalez

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