I've been fortunate to have shot six different projects with Fila over the years and have always enjoyed working with them. Recently, I was brought on to photograph their tennis campaigns. Knowing nothing about tennis, this was an exciting opportunity. We shot the first campaign at the end of 2022, and since then, I've been hooked! I've even started playing a bit, although I'm still not very good.

When this next campaign came up, I was thrilled to photograph their tennis pros again. We planned to shoot at a big stadium outside Miami, and I started planning all the different shots we could do.

A day or two before my flight to Miami, the creative director, Daniela del Percio, called to inform me that the weather forecast had drastically changed, and we needed to move everything to a studio. The tricky part was that this was during Art Basel, so many studios were already booked, and most of the gear was checked out. Luckily, we found a small studio that was still available and could make it work.

The cameras are all ready to go, the bags are packed, and I'm trying to figure out the lighting at the airport with a nice glass of Bourbon. 

Daniela and I came up with the idea of creating backgrounds that resembled tennis courts, complete with lines and colors. Each color scheme was chosen to match the tournament locations for the collections. For example, since Wimbledon is played on a grass court, we shot that look on an all-green set.

We were incredibly fortunate to collaborate with Area1202 Productions, which seamlessly implemented these last-minute changes. They also managed to locate the lights I wanted, Skypanel 360s, in Orlando. She arranged to have them driven down.

I had worked with Reilly the previous year. For those who don't know, he's 6' 11", which made shooting in a small studio a bit challenging. We shot several different looks and served balls to Reilly so he could really hit. We bought a hitting net to catch all the balls, but it was still a bit nerve-wracking to see him hitting so hard in such a confined space.

I loved being able to experiment with slower shutter speeds and shooting portraits on film. 

I had never met Emma before, and I believe this was her first photo shoot with Fila. She was a natural and so much fun to be around. She hit incredibly hard and fast, so much so that she hit me a couple of times and even dented the grid on one of the lights.

Just don't tell the rental house!

Brandon was also new to me. He's a really sweet guy and, of course, an incredible tennis player. No matter what type of hit we asked him to do—forehand, backhand, slice, etc.—he would hit the same exact spot on the catching net almost every time. It was insane!

I love photographing tennis; the sport combines such power and grace. Thank you, Fila, for having me out again! It was a blast.

Here are some more BTS photos. 

I get lights shipped in from another city, and I'm over here shooting with my point-and-shoot, lol. 

Fun stuff!