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LEON Way too many lighting set-ups here then I feel like listing. Used a lot of bounce boards which is sort of unusual for me. Happy with the outcome. TAGS: Sports Photography, Athlete, Portrait of an Athlete, Fitness, Fitness Model, San Diego Fitness Photography, Rob Hammer Photography

Went hiking in Anza Borrego and figured why not check out the Salton Sea. It's a bizarre place about 3 hours from San Diego, and well worth the drive. The elevation is 226 ft, below sea level and the lake itself was created by accident in 1905. I could go on and on with useless numbers about this place, but google them for yourself if you really want to know. You'll get way more accurate results then anything else I could write. Anyway, this is probably the strangest place I have even been. The town isn't completely deserted, but it might as well be. Apparently back in the day, it was a mecca for fishing,...

Lefty's has been my Barber Shop since I lived here the first time in 06'. Actually shot here a while ago for a magazine assignment, but thought it would be cool to grab some portraits of a few of the guys. Shot a few rolls of film on the RZ67 that I still need to drop off at the lab. Anyway, Lefty's is a cool little shop filled with talented barber's. A couple of them are actually local, but they all look local. Almost everyone cutting hair is covered with tats. AJ, the one in the 2nd shot is my barber. I've never received anything but a great haircut from him. You can check out more Barber...

What a gritty old gem this place is. While home for Christmas, I was spent a day looking for some cool old shops and was striking out until I finally found Stancil's. It's obvious from the interior that it's seen a few haircuts. It was free entertainment just being in here listening to everybody go at each other. The guy in suspenders rolled in around 2:30 with a to-go box of bacon, french toast, and grits. I found it very amusing and started taking his picture. One of the other barbers said "he's been in this business for 35 years." I said "you've been cutting hair for 35 years?" And he said "No,...

Worked on a couple different specific ideas during this shoot. Some of them came out they way I wanted, and some were total failures. However, I believe that the failures are the best images to come out with because you learn so much more from them. The winning images never make me a better photographer. It's the losers that I spend the most time staring at and figuring out what I should have done differently to make them work. I won't say that the images below are my best work, but the others were so bad that I won't even bother posting them. Thankful for my screw ups on this shoot (and all the other),...

Was introduced to Pugsley's Barber Shop from one of the guys at The King's Club Barber Shop who used to work there. This wouldn't be that weird except that TKC is in Dana Point, CA and Pugsley's is in Kingston, NY. Small World. Anyway, Pugsley's is a cool shop in an interesting town. It really seems to fit in perfectly. The outside it very inviting and the inside has a warm and comfortable glow. The real topper for me though, wasn't the decor or the conversation, but the kegerator in the back corner! Much like all the previous shop I have shot, I wanted to keep the lighting fairly unnoticed....

PAULA LIGHTING INFO: White Lightning in 3ft Chimera Octa as key. Bare White Lightning as rim. Triggered by Pocket Wizards and powered by Vagabonds. MORE FITNESS IMAGES ON MY WEBSITE TAGS: Fitness Photography, San Diego Fitness Photography, Fitness, Fitness Model, Female Fitness Model, Portrait of Female Fitness Model, Athlete, Sports, Advertising Photography, Rob Hammer Photography

Very bitter sweet about these images. Not at all happy about what I was able to get, but honored to have been in this place at all. It's barbers like this, that inspired me to start this project. Claudio Caponigro came to this county from Italy long before my parents were even born. To say he is an old school Italian would be a huge understatement. He has been cutting hair in this East Harlem shop for 62 years. Claudio's Barber Shop is a Harlem landmark and he is a legend. Soon after starting my project, I came across some info about him on the internet. After all these years a new landlord bought...

Got back last night from an awesome road trip up to Park City, UT. For years I have been wanting to ride that world famous snow that comes in off Salt Lake. And unfortunately I will have to keep waiting. PC much like all the other U.S. resorts are hurting for snow fall. On Saturday we rode on a measly 20 inches. Regardless it was an awesome trip. Our crew of 13 had a great time. My camera hung out for most of the trip, but wasn't used for anything but documenting the good times. Shot these a couple weeks ago. You can see the set-up shot here. Still not sure I'm thrilled with them. Shot a bunch...

Johnny Lovato. With a name like that I figured he had to be a character, and he didn't disappoint. Johnny kept me entertained for the entire hour I was in his shop. He had tons of stories and is very proud of the time he cut Jerry Lewis's hair. When there aren't customers coming through he still has the company of his Cheeto eating bird; Jojo. Just like other barber shops, all the artifacts covering the walls tell you how long he has been around. This one was a challenge to shoot because almost the entire place is mirrors. I thought his "banana tree" hanging behind the chair was funny. He keeps...