Gulf Coast's Finest - dK Studio Photography

A very good Monday morning to you from the Rocket City! I rolled back into town late yesterday from a trip to the Tampa Bay area sharing time with high school and college classmates. I love the Tampa – St. Petersburg area and enjoy the fact that I have been able to maintain some of my child hood connections.

Once I left the bay area I stopped in Perdido Key and spent a few days with my good friend, model extraordinaire and sushi aficionado, Ms. Marina Semenova. Marina and I became friends when she first started modeling and the friendship has continued to grow over the years. We have a mutual love for photography, the beach and sunsets and dare I say, an affinity for sushi. There is no one more hard-core then me and she definitely gives me a run for my money. I think we could eat it every night of the week and sometimes it comes close! The only thing that we do that rivals our sushi experience is the time we spend on the beaches shooting fashion and editorial images for both of our portfolios. The three days we spent together on this trip proved to be magical.

When we weren’t photographing or eating sushi we spent our time visiting a few of my favorite places in the area. There is no place better known then Joe Patti, the superstore seafood market in downtown Pensacola that could be designated as the Home Depot of seafood. I love going in to the store and browsing all of the fresh choices it offers. My favorites are the tuna and the royal red shrimp all though everything in the iced cases looks incredible. The only thing more iconic then the fresh seafood they offer is the signature neon Joe Patti sign that features a larger then life red snapper and shrimp and is backed-up by a huge American flag. As luck would have it we were in town just as the sun was setting on a fabulous evening.

Just behind Joe Patti’s is a fleet of fishing trawlers, where Marina and I have more than once taken advantage of using them as a backdrop for our fashion shoots. Seeing the trawlers, emotionally takes me back to my days in the Outer Banks and how much I was smitten by the beauty and majestic nature of the fishing vessels on the island. The photographs that I captured during my time on the island are still very much a part of me and are some of my most cherished images and memories of the community that lives and works there. The abstract reflections that magically appear while the water is still I find mesmerizing and it was while I was in OBX that I began capturing these images. I continue to see and want to capture those images when I close to these lovely ladies. Enjoy!!!!!!