Joe Hound

While shopping for cold remedies yesterday I picked up the December issue of XXL, which contained my portrait of emerging Miami rapper Joe Hound in the Show & Prove section. Wouldn't you know it the very next day I received several more copies from the magazine. But that's just the way my luck is running this week.

Bad luck exhibit A came on Monday morning during my shoot for Men's Journal when 4-ft seas quickly (by means of some strong winds) turned into 8 to 10-foot swells. If only I had a video camera with me (and an extra assistant) it would have made a hilarious video... me on the bow of the boat shooting the subject perched precariously on top of the railing, waves tossing us every which way, my assistant Erica trying to hold on while simultaneously keep my large reflector in the right spot as it got more and more slick from the salt spray. And of course I was shooting on my Mamiya 7, which loads slower than any other body I've ever had, so film changes on the bow were a trip!

By shoot's end, my assistant had managed to stay on board, no gear was lost or water logged, we got plenty of stuff to work with, and none of us had ralphed -- talk about success! Speaking of assistants, because Erica did such a great job this week its only fitting that she be honored by being clearly visible in the above XXL clip, holding up a 1-stop scrim in the reflection of Joe's shades. Way to go Erica! And lastly here's an additional frame that shows why I liked this building along Biscayne Bvld. that I picked for our location.

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Comments (2)

John, Did you art direct the crotch-grab or was that Joe Hound's input? Love the building. And photo-geek query (AKA I know jack) do you bring scrims and reflectors to all you portrait shoots? Cheers.

I didn't art direct Joe beyond where to stand -- I very rarely do much of any art direction beyond just trying to help people become comfortable, unless art direction is dictated by the client. Though I guess everything that a photographer does, says, and communicates via body language is direction in one sense. But no, crotch grabs are a free bonus when working with rappers in my experience.

I always try to bring whatever equipment I think I might need on a shoot to try and deal, modify, and make my own the location. At the very least, even when I'm not planning on shooting with any lights, I always keep a reflector/scrim kit in my trunk just in case.

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