The Story Behind the Photographs
Here are some outtakes from my ongoing assignment with the TeachersCount’s ad campaign, “Behind Every Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher.” This time we photographed Minnesota Timberwolves forward-center Kevin Love with his high school math teacher, Scott Buchanan. We shot on location at the NBA headquarters in NYC, and as you can see we didn’t have much room to work with. A 6-foot-10 basketball player can easily make a room look very small.
I don’t know many of the American Idol contestants. I rarely watch the show. But for some reason I had heard of Scotty McCreery. Not sure why – he’s a country singer (I don’t listen to that genre), he won last season’s American Idol (I didn’t watch it) and he lives in Garner, just outside of Raleigh (I’ve never been there). So, when I got the call to photograph him at his high school (Garner Magnet School) I was thrilled – I love new experiences. Photographed on location in the library of Garner High School for TeachersCount, we took portraits of Scotty alone and with his teacher/mentor Derek Goffena. I also had a little help from the high school yearbook staff and my assistant Elizabeth Larson and stylist Claudia Gunn. Here’s the poster:
WNBA star Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx) teaches her 4th grade teacher, Joni Henderson, how to spin a basketball on her index finger. Shot on location at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Tavis Smiley and his 8th grade teacher and mentor Janet Oates on location at KCET Studios in LA.
Another photo shoot with TeachersCount. This time with pitching great CC Sabathia. Standing next to him you really get a sense of how intimidating he must be when pitching. Off the mound though he’s a giant teddy bear; quiet, loves to laugh and very giving of his time. His mentor is Abe Hobbs, CC’s PE teacher in middle school. They’ve kept in touch over the years and now work together at baseball camps in California. Abe’s family came along (kids are big Yankee fans) and we had some time to take photos before CC arrived. Getting people on set who are not use to being photographed is a lot of fun. Usually shy at first, but give them a minute, show them what you’ve shot and boy do they open up. Here are a few outtakes from the shoot.
CC with the Hobbs family / CC with his mentor Abe Hobbs
Hamming it up before CC arrives
Two wonderful assistants, Rita Tongco (stylist) and Ellis Au (assistant)
