Jab Buhay Photography 

When Alex called me friday, I thought he was kidding when he said he needed a photographer for cigar snob magazine the next day. The whole day. Yeah, right. When I asked him to email me the details, I thought, wow... this guys is pretty serious. So I took the job since it was either that, or clean the house. 
I've never been to a serious cigar shop before. I've never smoked a stick in my life! Never even been in a "humador" to begin with. I have however, contemplated the possiblity of indulging myself to start smoking cigars. Well, here's my education. I did learn a couple of things. Aside from the basics of cigar smoking. 
It's mainly a sort of big boys club, for the most part. Each cigar location that we went to had their own attitude so to speak. There was one for the man who seems to want to kind of work, but smoke cigar and talk manly subjects with his co horts. There's the place where you are busy in one small lounge talking to your weekend mates over the newest cigar on the market. There's the place where you hang out with your old buddies and talk about the good ol' days... and more. 
I enjoyed it - the guys from Cigar Snob and the people I met. I think I'll have a future smoking cigars. What I also enjoyed though, photography wise was the challenge of shooting indoors in small spaces with different lighting set ups. It's one thing to shoot at home with family, it's another to shoot for a nationally distributed magazine who's trying to bump off the racks a dominating publication... can someone say pressure? 
http://www.cigarsnobmagazine.com/ - clearly this was one of my most serious assignments. Alex's confidence in me was very reassuring. So I did what I do best. Shoot. I know I know my equipment is limitted, but with every assignment, I get closer to getting a better camera. 
Well, Im gonna be nationally published here in the states finally! Awesome break - I do wish alex is reading this cause I wanna tell him I want in on his gig again next time. 

One thing we didn't do was a consultation. I told myself I'd have to wing this one. Normally, I like to get to know the client so their attitude and personality comes out of the images. 
What I always knew was that I am creating images. I never wanted the people to adapt to my style - my goal is to bring who they are in the pictures. It's like telling a story really. I guess, if I were to look at it that way, I like telling true to life stories than fictional ones. 
After I've introduced myself to everyone - I walked around the location to familiarize myself with the different areas - recon work. Kids at weddings are always fun to shoot... Jackie's kids and nieces were all over the place, playing, running, talking... Such a treat for my lens. An hour into the shoot, I warmed up nicely with a couple of people and taking pictures became fun again. The whole family was having fun and enjoying the summer afternoon. The bride and groom are enjoying their day. We capped off the night with the traditional dance. I left making new friends, excited to start working on the post production work. Thanks Jonny and Jackie!