Here’s a quick bio photo from a recent shoot I did with Miami based DJ Stevie J. Stevie J is best known for providing the soundtrack every week during LIV’s infamous and world renown Sunday night party with Headliner Market Group. You can follow up with Stevie and everything he’s up to at www.whoissteviej.com.

Taken at a T-Mobile Event on April 5, 2011 in Midtown Miami

I was hired to take photos at the Miami stop of the Red Bull Music Academy workshop that took place at the Raleigh Hotel on Miami Beach. This occurred during the highly Winter Music Conference week that takes over the South Florida nightlife scene. Talib Kweli and 9th Wonder stood in front a gathered audience of upcoming musicians to take questions and to share knowledge of the “perceived” music industry.

I met up with locally based hip-hop artist Jigg for a “vintage” styled photoshoot to promote a new single of his. We did this on Ocean Drive on South Beach in front of a very very old car. I think the car is Depression-era Buick, but please don’t quote me on that - I’m not too familiar with antique cars. But the shoot turned out well. Shot entirely on a Canon 7D with a little bit of texturizing via Adobe Photoshop.

Taken on January 22, 2010 in North Miami, Florida.

From a shoot for The305.com

Yesterday, I got the privilege to stop by Crescent Moon Recording Studios to take a couple photos of Emilio Estefan. And well, here’s the result of one of them. This is basically a quick candid of him in front of his wall of plaques and RIAA recognitions. Taken between meetings during what I’m sure was a busy day for him.

I always love working with Pitbull and his team, and getting the chance to document his 30th birthday was definitely a pleasure. I really don’t have much explanation, but it was a great night with tons of beautiful people and tons of fun at Miami’s Club Play.

It was an incredible evening. Drake launched his tour in Miami and took to LIV nightclub to celebrate the launch, and also announce that he has made Miami his new second home by officially declaring himself a resident of the city. I caught all of this footage through the span of the evening and added Drake’s “Show Me A Good Time” as the backdrop for the song.

Photoshoot with Anabelle from a few years ago. No Photoshop used on this particular photo if I remember correctly.

Click on photo to enlarge

This photo is of Zuly was taken at was once known as Culture Kings, a prominent Miami based sneaker boutique that has closed down. We had an amazing Michael Jordan adorned basketball hoop backboard (designed by Like Mike Clothing) and decided to dress Zuly up in an urban styled get-up - and came up with this shot. Make-Up by Angie Garcia. Click on photo to enlarge.

Photo taken of O.Z., an artist based in the north side of Dade County. We took this right by Sun Life Stadium (aka Dolphin Stadium aka Pro Player Stadium aka Joe Robbie Stadium aka whatever its called by the time you’re reading this article).

We started the shoot early enough at around 9:00AM and set up this shot in front of a small convenience store that O.Z. has gone to all his life since as far back as he can remember. The yellow backdrop with his bright red attire definitely helped him stand out nicely.

Here’s another video I shot. This one was filmed at Cameo nightclub on South Beach. A party with XXL Magazine presented by Michael Madd and Remy Martin. Trina was the host for the evening. Tons of celebrities and partygoers came by to be part of the Miami installment of XXL Magazine’s “XXL Live” series. I doubled up as photographer and videographer for the night - so I definitely had my hands full.

Here’s video I shot of Lottery Ticket actress and star, Teairra Mari, who’s also a talented singer. She passed by Play Nightclub a couple weeks ago for a release party in celebration of the movie’s theatrical debut. Trina also stopped by with her friend, model Sunny Monroe.

Here’s a photo from a shoot I did with model/artist Shakur. Taken on Miami Beach a couple months back. You wouldn’t even know, but it was the worst weather around us when we took this photo. Storming and the sun was setting so our lighting was limited. However, its one of my favorite shots from the shoot.

Here’s a small video clip I put together of a behind the scenes job I did for UK artist Nathan. This song features Flo-Rida, and also has appearances by Shanell, Michael Madd, Karelix, P.M. and others.

Alicia Kets at the Miami stop of her Freedom Tour on March 27, 2010

Taken at Cameo Theater on Miami Beach

Here are two photos I took of Miami hip-hop artist Ghostwridah. The top photo was taken in front of the building in the Arts District of Miami. And the bottom one was taken in front of this abandoned diner in Downtown Miami (which has since reopened).

This is a photo of Miami based artist, Majic.

Here’s a pair of sneakers that a friend and I customized at the Nike southeastern headquarters. I took a couple product shots of them as soon as they came in the mail…

Photo of 16 year-old pop singer in the making, London. Taken in front of an amazing array of colors which only added to her bubbly personality.

Here are a couple photos of new artist Shanell, who is signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint. She’s an incredibly sweet and talented singer. I hope she definitely sees much success in the coming future.

Here’s some product photography I did for a local company called Paper Glitter (which I’ve posted before). This is for an Easter themed set of their paper printables line.

Deuce Poppi. Slip-N-Slide Records artist.

This is one of the first videos I did on the new Canon 7D I bought, which DOES come with full HD video capabilities. This small feature is on local Miami singer Jovi Rockwell. It was put together a little last minute and we ran out of natural daylight, but when I saw this one storefront in the heart of Downtown Miami, I knew it’d b e the right fit as a backdrop. Expect more videos coming soon.

- DRO

I did these product shots for a company called PaperGlitter™. They wanted a very vibrant and cartoon kind of feel. We put together their whole line for the first shot. And then, for the other two we used various themed paper as a background to make the pieces “pop”.

This is a project I did for Terror Squad artist O.Z. I did the photography and designed the artwork as well. We went for something simple and wanted to a blue background for the look of the release.

I got the opportunity to go to a special edition of “Super Saturdays” at Dolphins Stadiums presentation of the Florida Marlins. Local radio legend DJ Laz, and Miami-born rapper Flo-Rida were at hand to collectively throw the first and second pitch. It was a great event and I was glad that the Marlins were open to seeing hip-hop entertainers at the stadium.

Zuly at Culture Kings sneaker boutique for a photoshoot inspired by recent Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame inductees, Run-DMC. From an unreleased issue of 305 Magazine.

Here’s a quick photo I took of my niece Kaylee. Its part of this special project that me and my sister are working on. More details later…stay tuned.

Here’s new work of mine that was published in the Winter 2008 issue of LTD Magazine. Which is available at limited retailers, but more details can be found at www.ltdmag.com. Essentially, it was a project to display the “Best Spots In Miami” through the eyes of Miami-based clothing/sneaker store Shoe Gallery. I took tons of photos of great restaurants, retails stores and celebreities for the project. Above is a snapshot of the tearsheet. Below the tearsheet are a couple photos that were shot for the project that didn’t make the final published version, but nonetheless are great photos.

Here’s a photoshoot with North Miami based Musician/Producer by the name of Shiv. We chose to use a wall installation created by Obey located in Miami’s Overtown area. The post production of this shoot involved a couple various retouch techniques and per request of the client, and these specific versions shown above show a granier and over-sharpened effect.

This was a project that I did for the first issue of 305 Magazine entitled Scarface: Remixed and has really been one of my most acclaimed shoots. We wanted to do something special for the first issue and wanted do something that was iconic to Miami. Thanks to the brainstorming of local Miami stylist Angie Garcia, she came up with the concept of remaking photographs of popular scenes in the movie Scarface. The only catch - our Scarface will be played by a female.

By us deciding to recreate scenes that were influenced by one of the most influential movies in hip-hop - we were setting ourselves up for a challenge. But with the help of Jumbo’s Restaurant & Star Shooters Photo Studio, we were able to do a damn good job and surpass all of our expectations.

Jessie Camacho came along to star in the leading role of the shoot as “Tony Montana”. Natalia Trejos played the lovable “Manolo.”

Our main attention was put on detail. As you can see below, the “scar” on Jessie’s face was actually make-up. I couldn’t tell you how many countless amounts of people thought the scar was real. But either way, the “scar application” was easy to put on, but not so easy to take off. In short, the lesson of the day: do not use liquid scar creator near anyone’s eyebrows. Sorry Jessie for the mishap! You’re a trooper!

This was a day long shoot and everybody involved was definitely pleased with the turnout. And one last bit of behind-the-scenes-info, for the “Sunset” scene, we actually created the sunset image behind Jessie and actually also changed the color of her jacket to reflect a blue colored one that appeared in the original scene of the movie. It took a lot of work, but it got the job done.

This is one of my favorite photos. This was a photoshoot for hip-hop/rock artist Quote-7. The trick to nail the shoot was to take a photo that can speak what Quote was about. Quote was as equally a hip-hop artist as he was a rock artist. So with that in mind, I took him to this wall that a friend was commissioned to paint (the skull with speakers graphic) and the rest was history. And for my nitpickers reading this, the washed out detail on his left arm and watch was done intentionally in post-production.

Check out my Model Mayhem profile over at www.modelmayhem.com/dro

Here are a couple product shots of the final “numbered” Air Jordan sneaker to ever be released. Entitled the Air Jordan XX3 “Finale”. Retailed for $230 with only 529 pairs sold worldwide.

Here are a couple photos from a photoshoot I did with Sarah. Sarah isn’t aspiring to be a model or anything, she just wanted photos for herself and from what I assume, to use on her Myspace profile. Both shots were taken using natural light at around the 3PM in the afternoon.

Make-Up By: Maria Fleita
Styling By: Model
Location: Miami Design District and Fountainbleau Hotel Beach

Here are a couple product shots of Nike’s Air Force 1 release entitled the “Black Friday AF1″, designed by frequent Nike collaborator, DJ Clark Kent. The sneaker was released on the day after Thanksgiving 2008 to the fanfare of enthusiasts who waited in line for up to 7 days to receive their pair.

This was a photo of Miami-based recording artist Pitbull. I took it back in June 2003 (might’ve been earlier in the year) behind a barbershop called Fademasters. I actually took this with an old film camera that I bought. If I’m not mistaken this was one of Pitbull’s first photoshoots when he was an “upcoming artist”, years before he ever catapulted to international stardom.