It felt so great to get a call from Heart & Soul Magazine to shoot Rebecca Crews from the B.E.T. show The Family Crews. What made this even more special was our shoot was filmed as a part of the show. Both the Heart & Soul issue and the episode for The Family Crews will be out early 2011.
| Promo photos for Zo Williams, The Voice of Reason – The Foxxhole / Sirius Radio
Zo Williams, Voice of Reason |
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I recently had the pleasure of shooting Mr. Hal Williams. Check out my two favorite photos of our shoot.
Hal Williams (born December 14, 1938) is an American actor, best known for his recurring role as the black cop Officer Smith (“Smitty”) on Sanford and Son, and as the patriarch Lester Jenkins on 227.
Williams started out in show business in 1969. Since then, he has appeared in movies such as Hardcore, Private Benjamin, and The Rookie. In the early to mid-1990s, he starred in many of comic Sinbad‘s productions, including The Sinbad Show and The Cherokee Kid. Most recently, he played the grandfather in the Bernie Mac film Guess Who.
His other television credits include Moonlight, Moesha, Suddenly Susan, Minor Adjustments, L.A. Law, Night Court, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues, Gimme a Break, The Jeffersons, The Dukes of Hazzard, T.J. Hooker, The Waltons, Knots Landing, The White Shadow, What’s Happening!!, Good Times, Quincy, M.E., Kung Fu, Gunsmoke and That Girl.
Williams is also the host of the annual Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation nationally-televised telethon.
Okay headshots are not my favorite thing to shoot but when the opportunity comes I will usually take it. In this case I’m very happy I did. My shoot with entertainer Gary Sturgis went better than I expected. We did several looks but this series I have posted below is my favorite look. I loved working with Gary and crew. Everyone had great energy and no big egos to get in the way of the fun. What did I enjoy about this shoot? Gary did more than stand there. He gave me something to work with. As a photographer I strive for more than pretty lighting, good makeup and phat gear. I want to show something real of the person I’m shooting. Fun or serious it doesn’t really matter. I want to see something of there soul. I think we were able to capture some of that here.
Gary Anthony Sturgis Bio
Gary Anthony Sturgis is a New Orleans born
actor/writer/director best known for his portrayal of the
villain in two of Tyler Perry’s biggest hit films, “Diary of A
Mad Black Woman” (as Jamison Jackson) and “Daddy’s
Little Girls” (as Joseph Woods). He also co-starred
opposite Terrence Howard in “Pride”, as the charming yet
sinister pimp/drug dealer Franklin Washington. Recently,
he has broken the mold of bad guy to co-star in the
comedy “Chicago Pulaski Jones” with Kel Mitchell and
Cedric the Entertainer.
Also a professional voice artist, Sturgis has voiced
network promos for UPN, CBS, PBS and ABC, cartoons
and video games (Static Shock, Batman, Scooby Doo
and The Cyber Chase, Fairly Odd Parents, Spiderman)
and is heard on countless commercials for radio and
television. His raspy bass-baritone voice that the women
find hard to resist has even been heard on national movie
trailers and promotions for; BONES, TWO CAN PLAY
THAT GAME, THE OTHERS, THE BROTHERS and THE
WOOD to name a select few. For another surprise, Gary
also produces and writes rap music and has a successful
recording under the moniker Illuminati called Fahrenheit,
which is still available on iTunes.
As a writer/producer, Gary is currently producing some of
his feature-length screenplays (he has written more than
ten), and has packaged his works into three and four picture deals and commenced to shopping them
around town for financing and distribution. We have only scratched the surface of this multi-faceted
creative soul.
Since Sturgis has been writing for years, the next natural progression was to direct. After directing LEND
A HAND, a 90-second short film for the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), Gary realized that directing
was yet another feather he could stick in his talented cap. “I see directing as a place of creativity far
different than creating a character as an actor. I am drawn to the amount of focus that goes into telling an
entire story visually, and how I have to balance creativity with efficiency and time when I direct” he says
of his directing experience.
Gary will be directing two of his own films, a comedy, THE INHERITANCE and an action drama, LE BON
TEMPS ROULER, in the near future as the first two films from his production company, GEMFilmworks.
The multi hyphenated talent is already respected as an actor and plans to make an even bigger mark in
the entertainment business while he perpetually broadens his horizons.
When asked what area of the business he likes best, Gary says simply, “It really doesn’t matter, as long
as it’s the business of entertainment”.
