Luis Mercês (@luismercesjr) is one of those people that you feel wonderful to be around.
This was the first time we met to take pictures, and we hit it off right away!
It was New Year's Eve, and we had every reason not to take pictures that day: Miami traffic was crazy, and the weather was totally out of control that week (sometimes raining, sometimes sunny).
I rarely choose to shoot on major holidays, but I felt such wonderful energy coming from him that I decided to venture out anyway.
Joyful, fun, creative, and super passionate about life. These were the feelings I had while photographing him.
With our busy schedule but lots of enthusiasm, we were able to explore three different corners of South Florida. The first was Wynwood. Luis, like me, is super tuned in to art. Wynwood was one of the suggestions he brought to me when we were planning the details of the photoshoot. Of course, I accepted right away! Wynwood is always a good adventure and also a great place to spark new ideas.
For this photoshoot, we focused on some key points, such as The Wynwood Building, which is the city's postcard, and also the official Wynwood gallery, and the Wynwood Walls.
This is one of my favorite photos from the shoot. During the photoshoot, I came across the scene above: Luís sitting at a picnic table with a beautiful art mural behind him. Behind the wall, a giant tree full of branches emerges, covering the entire top of the photograph. The idea of this photo was precisely to integrate the background tree in the same direction as Luís's head, as if all that art and creativity were exploding out of his head. I loved the result.
Then we took a little trip to the Miami Design District, the perfect place for fashion lovers. I always recommend MMD for those who have a foot in the fashion world. In this case, Luís has both feet and rocked the looks for the shoot.
In the photos above, we took advantage of the famous yellow corridor of the Fendi store and the modern sphere known as Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye Dome.
To top off the shoot with a flourish, we took a quick trip to South Beach to enjoy some of Miami's vibe, which, regardless of whether it's New Year's or not, remains the same: always lots of sun, beach, and fun. After a busy day of taking pictures, Luis still had plenty of energy to go see Ivete Sangalo's concert in Miami. So jealous!