Welcome to Miami

This is my third year back in Miami (I was born here, my family has lived here for generations, but I've only worked professionally here since 2006) and I thought it would be fun and informative to create a mini welcome guide to doing business in the city as a freelance editorial photographer.

Weather, locale, getting around.

So welcome to Miami and good luck. It's a great place to have fun and a great place to watch shrink away in your rearview mirror or your way home. Shooting here can be easy, breezy, but just as often it's a total hassle. A lot depends on the time of year and on location.

To begin with, Miami isn't that big of a place, even though it stretches for miles and miles. Only certain parts even feel like a big city, and if you are coming here for a shoot you probably only need to know 2 places: the airport and South Beach (Miami Beach south of 23rd St). Getting here is not hard with dozens of daily directs into MIA or FLL, but god help you if you are coming in from out of the country (esp. at MIA). Arriving and hoping not to need to get a rental car? Dream on, you're going to need one. Why?, well for one our taxis are total shit and very expensive. Even if they weren't, our mass transit is non-existent and mostly useless, on top of most of everything you'll need being 10 miles and 25 minutes away from each other. If you are just going to be at one hotel in South Beach and then right out on the beach next to it, you are probably fine. But if you have multiple locations or a tight deadline, you need a rental. Sorry.

And even though I said you need a rental car, let me go ahead and apologize about the traffic/maniacs on the road here. Yes, its true (and verified by a nationwide poll in 2007), traffic and drivers in Miami are fucking horrible. There, I said I was sorry and I warned you.

Life in Miami is broken into two distinct periods of time: season vs. not. During season (roughly December (Art Basel) until May (Mother's Day)) hotels are booked with a million conventions and vacations, rental houses are empty because of the commercial shooters, and everything is more expensive; the upside is that the weather is heaven (mid-70's with a breeze and lots of sun). During off-season the place heats up (mid-90's+ and humid) and empties out. All of the snowbirds head back to fucking New Jersey or wherever and its easier to get deals on hotels and flights. You are going to sweat your ass off, but hey, nothing is perfect; plus down here no one dresses up for anything except the clubs, which you should stay away from anyway, so you'll be comfy in shorts and flip-flops.

Just as an aside, even though Miami and the Keys are very close relative to New York and, say, Chicago, they are not really that close at all practically speaking. Therefore, you can not shoot in the Keys but be based in Miami - you can try but you'll spend the entire time driving between on US-1/Overseas Hwy, which is not a fun thing to do (trust me). Key West is a good, long 2-lane drive away and just like an island in the Caribbean, it operates on its own time and has scarce local resources (no rental, no film, no assistants, no problem mate!).

Sleeping and eating.

Depending on your client and location, staying in SoBe is fun but going to run you between $250-$500+; but you will be within easy walking distance to hundreds of spots to eat, get coffee, jog, and club. Walking distance in Miami is a rare, rare thing. Staying north on the beach will save you money but you'll have very few appetizing options if you care about food. Another option is staying in Miami proper (I would unless its your first trip), but most of the hotels are either in downtown (no man's land after 5 p.m. generally), Aventura (Jewish 70+ paradise of mall shopping and corporate eating), Doral (way, way West of Miami only convenient for golfers), South/Red Road (near University of Miami campus and nothing else), or near the Airport (just close you eyes and pick randomly at that point).

OK, so you have a hotel, but where to eat. Like any major city Miami has a lot of everything and every major chain, but there are some highlights you should know about. If you must have a steak in Miami, it should probably be at one of the many Argentinian or Brazilian carnivor-a-thons dotting the landscape. There is a general consensus that you must try some of the Cuban fare (most famous is Versailles in Calle Ocho (SW 8th)), but just make sure you have plenty of time for a nap afterwards. If you love Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Ethiopian, Chinese, or Mexican food then sorry, you should really just wait until you are back home. Instead pick just about any seafood, Italian, Russian, or Latin spot and you'll probably be fine (hit up OLA on James Ave. in SoBe for great nuevo-Latin cuisine); even better fuck the good food and capitalize on the great views. If you are a veggie/vegan and don't eat fish, then buy some crackers, baby, it's going to be rough.

Time for work.

With a place to sleep and a full stomach, it's probably time to get some work done, so lets talk about what you'll need to know in terms of shooting in Miami and around South Florida. First of all there are some good rental studios and film labs (well, 2 of each). For rentals check out Aperture Professional and Carousel Studios, and for film labs I like using The Color House. Now if one of these studios can't help you then you are in a spot, because you can not depend on any of the photo shops in Miami to have anything in stock you may need (seriously). But if you don't believe me, the largest is Pitman Photo Supply (way the fuck down in South Miami), and your 2nd (and even more gruesome option) is World Wide Foto (near the Design District). You'll find out very quickly that if you need a piece of pro gear which can't be rented in town, then you are going to either have to bring it with you or have it shipped in from the big boys (sigh, last minute overnight shipping to hotels is AWESOME, right?!).

Speaking of gear its common for photo editors to hear the word Miami and begin to have wet dreams about underwater angles for their assignment, no matter if its a business portrait 10 miles from the ocean. On that score I just recently came across someone who rents pro underwater housings (Stephen Frink Photographic), but if he's out then it ain't going to happen. Do what I've been advised to do and buy yourself a Canon G9 with a housing (both are out of stock in Miami, I bet you $20).

OK, moving on. If you are shooting on the beach you technically are going to need a permit. I've shot on the beach dozens of times and never had one but I don't have big sets with lots of gear. So if you are planning on a full-day shoot or big operation you should be smart and give the City of Miami Beach a call just in case. When shooting on the beach you absolutely are going to want to have a few things: a beach cart (photo gear cart with large tires for the sand), a photo hood or screen for seeing laptops or even chimping, either tie downs, many assistants, or MANY sand bags, and sunscreen (duh), dark sunglasses, and/or a hat (getting burnt is no fun). If you like using large soft boxes, scrims/flags, or anything else (common sense alarm) you are either going to hire a small army to keep them secure and in the right orientation or are going to be smart and leave the 5' octodomes or (eek) 12x12's at home and use a beauty dish instead. Beauty dishes are worth their weight in gold in Miami because its always windy.

Miami has a lot of very good commercial assistants (so I hear) because of the advertising and film work that is constantly going on down here. However, it does not have that many decent editorial assistants. You really can't depend on finding local help at the $200 range last minute down here unless you have a friend who owes you a favor. Instead have the client eat another plane ticket and get something who you can depend on. That being said, you don't need to worry about finding good local stylists of any stripe (hair, makeup, wardrobe, etc). There are plenty in Miami who have a ton of experience and most of them are great to work with. And because this is party central, catering is not going to be a problem either.

Unlike New York, most of Miami is not so media savvy that you'll need pay for access to use a location (usually). Most of them are totally fine with you shooting as long as you have proof of liability insurance (which you should anyway, right). Also, just like any major city there are many areas that you don't want to get stuck in at the wrong time of day, just be smart about it. It should be said that Miami is much safer than it was in the Cocaine Cowboy days of the 70-80's. Still, stay away from parts of South Miami, Liberty City, Overtown, Opa-Locka, and Hialeah after dark unless you have local assets watching your back.

Summing it all up.

I've certainly missed dozen of things here but this is a solid beginning. I'll try to add to this guide to keep it relevant and to respond to any questions that might come. Hopefully others of you out there can share of your knowledge of working in and out of other major cities that all of us have to spend time in. Atlanta anyone? Houston? Lets see some love get shared!

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