Indy race car driver, Jack Harvey, has a fashion sensibility and a laid-back personality that you might not expect from a man with such a competitive job.

Upon first meeting Jack, one could tell he was super cool and a little hesitant, for a minute. It can be a little intimidating having your hair, makeup and wardrobe done for a larger scale photo shoot for the first time. There’s the crew; stylists, makeup artists, and assistants all fussing over you and getting you ready for the fist shot of the day. Pretty out of the normal scope of a day in a race car driver’s life.

The publisher, Carlos Suarez, and I had talked about the possible direction for the shoot and we both agreed that shooting Jack on the beach made sense. We created four different sets so we could move from the double page color in situ on the water, to the close ups in B&W on black, to the full length verticals on white and finishing with the VW bug shots of Jack driving away. All were lit with Profoto B1 on a boom pole with reflectors and black cutters placed in various spots as needed.

By the time we got through the first shot, you could tell Jack had become very comfortable in front of the camera and was starting to let his guard down. It goes without saying… He’s very handsome and has a great look. He was even flipping his hat for us, which you can see in the gif below.

I love shooting on the water. We know what needs to be available for us to get the shots; crew, lighting, grip, security, etc... Often times, we’re adjusting to accommodate the wind, glare off the water, weather… It’s a lot of fun as long as you have the right crew and have planned out all the possible issues that could impact the shoot.

Speaking of crew, my very talented first assistant really helped make this come together, kudos go out to Miguel Mori, one of Miami’s top assistants and a great lighting tech! Our second, who’s also a really a great first, Michael Alfonso also contributed to every aspect of the lighting and rigging. Our digital tech, Johnny Lynch, was fantastic and captured all the files while keeping the clients, editors, and handlers in the loop while we were rapidly shooting frames and moving from spot to spot on the beach. My go-to Make-Up and Hair Stylist, Leslie Munsell, not only created a great look on Jack, but more importantly, put him at ease as she’s the first person he really comes in contact with on the shoot. It was the first time I had worked with Kirk Bardole, our wardrobe stylist. He brought a lot of style to this shoot and really helped shape Jack’s look. Our retoucher, Christine, added the final touches to the images and dropped in the background behind the VW shot!

All the BTS were shot by Sherryl Kamper. Yes, my lovely wife has become our go-to BTS shooter and she’s doing an awesome job! She’s also been working with the talent and clients to help smooth out the productions.