- In what ways does the city you live in impress you and if it does not exist, where would you prefer living in?

I live in both Los Angeles and New York City, which is a great balance both visually and creatively. LA is very film-centric, sunny, and open. NYC is more gritty and raw. I travel a lot for work so one place never begins to feel stale or boring.

- Imagine that you have the chance to go back to your 20s with what you have lived until today, the experiences that you acquired and the accumulation of your present knowledge. You are a student and you know what will happen years later. What would you pay attention to while shaping your life, again?

I would have paid more attention in math class.

- Was it your choice to get specialized in sports photography, or was it a coincidence coming out because of the offers you got? What's the most difficult part of freezing an action sequence?

The sports assignments began when one client asked me to do my fashion lighting but combine it with athletes and motion. This happened right around the time when a few of the big sports companies were winding down from the typical "guy running in the woods blurry shot" or standard stock looking sport images. I did this first shoot and it was successful, and then other clients began requesting a similar thing. Of course as we have gotten more of these types of shoots, and styles and concepts change, we always try to push the envelope. Fortunately, after much practice, the basics of timing are there even if the lighting and look change.

I'm now starting to get non-sports assignments again, which is nice, and I sometimes find them easier since in an non-athlete shot I don't have to worry so much about the athletic form being correct or if the movement is showing off the apparel correctly. I just get to concentrate on making beautiful images.

- You worked in two outstandingly prestigious events, 2004 Olympic Games and 2006 Football World Cup for the famous international sportswear company, Nike. What kind of responsibility is that? How did you feel when you were offered?

It was terrific to be offered such exciting and creative projects. I had the good fortune to work with great art directors and collaborated with them on the visual and photographic look of the campaigns. I feel that each shoot was very strong and each one built further upon the one before it.   

Of course there is a big responsibility inherent in projects of this scope. Usually the logistics of coordinating and executing a project where I am maybe shooting 5 athletes per day, for about 1-2 hours each, doesn’t allow any time to worry. I just focus on what’s happening at the moment so I can be present with the athlete, client, and crew.  

I was honored to work with such great athletes, especially on the Olympics campaigns in 2004 and 2008. The Olympics have had strong meaning for me since childhood. Watching a global sporting event with my family every four years had a huge impact on me, and watching The Games as an adult feels very nostalgic.

- You have some impressive fashion photography pieces in your portfolio. As a photographer who is also represented in Europe, what do you think about the major differences in fashion designs and preferences, between United States and Europe?

I find that photography and fashion doesn’t always translate from Europe to the US and vice versa. To adjust to each place I make specific portfolio edits for each region.

- You also worked with highly acclaimed celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Don Cheadle and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). What kind of experiences were they? If you had a limitless budget, which celebrities would you like to take photographs of?

Since my work is mostly advertising and I don’t do much celebrity editorial work, I was somewhat surprised when clients wanted me to do these portraits. But because my focus is more advertising, these editorial shoots aren’t a make-or- break career thing, so at that point it's really just a decent dialog with the actor. I approach the actors with the concept and talk about the direction.  My crew is used to working fast and professionally, so we’re able to get what we’re looking for very quickly—which the busy actors really like.  With a limitless budget, rather than focusing on one celebrity, I would travel to someplace I’ve never been and record what I found there.

- Are you interested in movies? What kind of productions and which directors do you find closer to yourself in terms of visual comprehension?

I love movies and they often inspire my concepts and photography in general. I love seeing a movie and translating some part of it into a shoot. I am inspired by directors such as Anton Corbijn, David Fincher, Peter Weir, Andrey Tarkovsky, Cinematographers such as Janusz Kaninski, Jeffrey Unsworth also inspire my work.

Advertising clients have ask me if I am interested in doing film spots, so we have started doing small films tied into projects like the Beijing Olympics and some editorial fashion stories. These were initially for fun and a cool learning experience. But the clients have been thrilled with what we’ve done and have been able to use our films and footage for web content—and in the case of Nike’s Beijing Olympics campaign, Nike used some footage in a commercial that aired during The Games.

It’s a super exciting time for me and my team as we start to add film to our portfolio. As we teach ourselves editing, lighting for cinema, directing for motion, and other techniques and logistics not needed for still photography, we’re all really excited to see where this transition takes us.  

- An editor in Exposure Compensation Web Site defines your style as 'a perfect example of the use of extraordinary fine art photography in the commercial world'. What do you think about this statement? What is your side in the traditional 'Is photography art?' discussion?

I’m extremely flattered by that compliment. I do try very hard to add something personal and artistic into each project. I’ll admit that on some of the advertising projects it’s a struggle to inject an artistic aesthetic into their commercial world. So when the opportunity arises when I can have more creative and artistic input, we work extra hard to get those jobs.

- Which artists and art movements are you mostly inspired from and what kind of inspirations are they?

I am inspired my many types of art: from Bauhaus to Surrealism; from New Wave Cinema to Film Noir; from early Greek Sculpure to the Process Art movement. But I’m also inspired but different things every day. Riding the subway or walking down the street I may see something that I store subconsciously and which may then be translated into my future work.

- Theme of our current issue is '2'. What does this number mean to you? What comes to your mind when you think about 'two's?

Balance. Or one less than three.