TheFDOTLife

A Wedding Between Friends [5.18.13]

fdot — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:42:13 +0000

I have shot I am sure over 100 weddings in my short career. Clients call me up and ask to see my work and they most times book me to shoot their special day. My last wedding though was really special. My life long friend Kristen calls me up and says he is going to propose to his girlfriend , who just happens to be my cousin Lacretia. So he asks me to photograph the surprise proposal (which we aced by the way) at Ichiban one night, the images came out beautiful and Lacretia was more than surprised. A few weeks later I get a call from him and Lacretia on the phone (and every conversation thereafter would be like this) asking me to capture the rest of the wedding activities … (Wedding Shower, Engagement Session and Wedding Day). Now like I said I’ve been asked to shoot a lot of weddings, but this one was different because the wedding day they chose was actually my birthday! Now usually I am on a break from shooting from around this time of year, but for my friends I knew this rule had to be broken.

I ended shooting the wedding shower and the engagement session (Pictured Below) and the wedding on May 18th, 2013, which by far was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever shot. The wedding from top the bottom was well planned and I could not think of anything I would rather be doing on my birthday than shooting the union of 2 friends of mine! Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Johnson.

Sketch | Wine (For Your Man) Music Video Premiere

fdot — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:05:22 +0000

Since starting my adventure into music video directing and production, I’ve been asked to work on many music video projects here in The Country and abroad. The rule I live by is that every project must be greater than the last … so I am always looking for ways to improve my craft and give the client an awesome visual representation of their music.

So when I was sent the Wine track by Bahamian Artist Sketch, I knew we had something special. The track is a funky caribbean infused medley where Sketch pursues a female (played by Dinetia Dean) in an attempt to get her to dance with him. The entire video was shot at Potters Cay Dock as to mix the beauty of the colors with the grittiness of the Dock Lifestyle. We totally took over Potters Cay on a Sunday afternoon and what we put together I feel is a great representation of the song and true representation of The Bahamas.

The song was a collaboration by singer/songwriter: Chris ‘Sketch’ Carey and songwriter Anwar McDonald and also features MDEEZ, the funky jam is blazing on local airwaves and recently has gotten the ear of a few international stations . Look forward to seeing this video go all around the world and back.

Sketch ft. Mdeez | WINE (For Your Man) from FDOT 242 on Vimeo.

::::::CREDITS::::::

Director: Farreno Ferguson (FDOT)
Asst. Director: Stephen Hanna (SCHINGUYEN)

Makeup: Makare Gaia
Styling: Phylica Ellis

Video Model 1: Dinetia Dean
Video Model 2: Tavie Johnson

Special Thanks to:
Moby Dick Bar & Lounge
The Whole Potters Cay Family

Phylicia Ellis + eLIFE 242 Magazine Cover

fdot — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:06:26 +0000

Always a pleasure when I get the opportunity to photograph subjects for the eLIFE 242 Magazine cover , and even better when it is someone as talented as designer Phylicia J. Ellis. Phylcia is a fashion designer based out of Nassau Bahamas who specialize in female ready to wear couture, which basically means of you looking for a custom piece to rock at your next gala, church event or party she has got you covered. We decided to shoot the cover at Potters Cay Dock a farmers market in Nassau, because it has a lot of great colors but in addition it has a certain level of grittiness that I thought would be a great contrast to the beautiful pieces Phylica had created for herself for the shoot. The energy on the shoot was great, and having the dress designer as the model was great because she knew the best angles for the look she had created. The feature spread came out great and both eLIFE242 and Phylicia were pleased … see below behind the scenes photos and the final cover.

[Show as slideshow]

Superman Sands | The Documentary

fdot — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:04:52 +0000

Always excited to work on documentary projects , so when I was asked by Olympic Triple Jump Bronze Medalist Leevan Sands and his team to work on a documentary of his recovery since his tragic injury during the London 2012 Games Triple Jump Finals I was definitely pumped up. The team was led by Brandon Major aka SosaMan who kept things in order as we traveled to Atlanta, Ga and Auburn, AL to film Leevan, his family and friends as they go through this very difficult process.

As always me and the homie Schinguyen were there to make sure every shot was technically done and the story well told. I feel like we have a classic on our hands and definitely the beginning of a line of story driven pieces for me and the team. When release the hope is to encourage others that no task is too difficult to over come …. see some behind the scenes photos from the trip below

[New Music Video] – Swagg Shuffle (SO$AMAN)

fdot — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 04:44:25 +0000

In all my history of doing music videos, me and this artist (@sosamanbahamas) have had the most interaction in the biz. I was responsible for his first visual ever and now it’s an honor to be working on this last effort. The video is a sexy urban banger that we shot at the end of 2012 and was gonna release right after christmas, but SO$AMAN decided that Super Bowl Sunday would be best. The video is cool and it’s a combo of two songs so watch all the way through … check it out and leave comments below!

Directed by F.DOT & SCHINGUYEN

Artist: SO$AMAN - www.facebook.com/sosatheman

Producer: BDA - www.facebook.com/TheBdaBeatzProjekt

[On Location] Shooting Cashera!

fdot — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:55:52 +0000

So fresh off the new year I tackled a shoot with a good friend of mine ( and fellow music enthusiast ) Cashera. She is usually shy of the camera, but we had been talking for the while about doing a shoot and since we both had some free time, we made it happen. What you see below is the result of our first official shoot together, had fun shooting her and the images are stellar ( Special Note: No Artificial light was used on any of the images from the set )… What do you think ?

Cashera – All Black

[Show as slideshow]

Shooting Hope Town

fdot — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:08:29 +0000

If you know me (which most of you reading this don’t) you know I love to travel. So when I was approached to shoot a resort in Abaco for their promotional material I was excited and surprised the same time. Mainly because most of my work does not show scenics or locations shots so I was surprised that I was being chosen for such a great task.

Abaco is one of the most beautiful place in The Bahama Island Chain and Hope Town is a great little pocket of Beauty. Nestled in the harbour of Hope Town right opposite the iconic candy striped light house is The Hope Town Harbour Lodge which was to be my focus over the 4 day visit. The quaint lodge is one of the jewels of Hope Town and is staffed by some of the most pleasant people in the country. My stay was a mixture of fun and work which made it so easy to relax and just capture the organic beauty and mood of the lodge and the entire Hope Town culture. My host Mike and his family were awesome tour guides and made sure that we got to see every corner of the Hope Town Area.

From the moment I arrived I realized that there was no way one could mess up capturing the beauty of this location as every direction I pointed my camera something inspiring caught my eye. If you have a chance you can go over to the lodge’s facebook page (CLICK HERE) and view the full slate of images I was able to capture. Below is a small sample of them, and I hope that I will be able to travel to more of the islands to document the beauty of my Bahamas ….

[In Studio] w/ Rakia Rolle

fdot — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:14:50 +0000

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph a contestant from the 2012 Miss Bahamas Pageant: Rakia Rolle (@rakiarolle }. I took notice of her during the pageant so when she reached out concerning a photo session I was excited to work along with her. I think we made some great images, she has a well defined face and has a great connection with the camera that transfers into her images… See what we did below

[Show as slideshow]

Nice vibe at OCEAN PRIME

fdot — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

Everyone who knows me knows that when I travel shopping is the last thing on my mind. If I am not travelling for a photo session or work … more times than not the only other thing on my mind is the cuisine in the area. Now on my recent trip to Orlando (i know blahhhh), for New Year’s Eve celebrations with @makaregaia and @eddiebrown242 (< twitter handles) I came across a restaurant that I will be sure to never forget : OCEAN PRIME. Ocean Prime is nestled on West Sand Lake Road just a few minutes past the tourist heavy International Drive and with it’s top shelf steak house theme it definitely catches your eye.

We were pleasantly greeted by servers and had a pair of wait staff assigned to us, who were super helpful in explaining the menu and making suggestions for first time diners. The ambience of the restaurant was beyond gorgeous and the live musician was easily mistaken for a CD recording. The menu was a la carte’ and every description enticing and if it were not for the price I would have ordered everything on the menu

At the end of the day we ended up ordering the Lobster Bisque and Crab Cake for appetizers (pictured above) and the 16oz 30 day dry aged Rib Eye w/ Shrimp Scampi and the Wild King Salmon (pictures below) as entress. The food and service was a 10, though a little pricey it was well worth it and I would recommend to anybody who frequents the Orlando area.

Chilling @ Food Network Kitchen

fdot — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 03:11:29 +0000

On a quick trip over to Ft. Lauderdale rushing by I had noticed the recent addition to the terminal “The Food Network Kitchen”. Now being an avid Food Network and Cooking Channel Fan I had no other choice but to pop in and sample the menu of what I hope to be a fixture not only in airport terminals but streets across the U.S..

My Partner in Crime @makaregaia (an even bigger Food Network fan) was with me so we stopped in as we waited on our flight. She had a classic burger and I tackled the Turkey Sandwich and I must say the food was fresh the service was great and it just had a very home like atmosphere though were we smack dab in the middle of the airport terminal.

On a scale of 1 to 10 gonna have to give them a 9. Real good spot and Ft. Lauderdale was their first instal (go figure) So make sure you check it out when you get a chance!

The Layout

Classic Burger ordered by twitter.com/makaregaia

Turkey Sandwich and the remnants of the Sweet Potato fries