Last week I had a photo shoot with Jacob deGrom, the New York Mets pitcher who was the National League’s Rookie of The Year in 2014. We drove up to Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie where the Mets have their spring training to meet with Jacob. The photos were to be used for the New York Observer and they wanted two different looks: one in his Mets uniform, and one in his regular street clothes. We had access to the field, the stands and the locker room, so we had to decide where we could best capture Jacob’s personality.
We arrived at the site about two hours before Jacob was to arrive because we wanted to check out the location and lighting options. It is difficult to plan for outdoor lighting at 9 in the morning when you will be shooting at 11 because the angle of the sun changes drastically, but we did the best we could. We only had 20 minutes to shoot Jacob, so we didn’t want to waste any time at all configuring lighting or finding perfect angles while he was on set. Instead, I used my assistant as the stand-in and spent about two hours testing everything so we would be one-hundred percent ready to go the minute Jacob arrived for the shoot.

Jacob walked out on the field at 11:00 on the dot. All 6’4″ of him. First off, let me say that he was incredibly nice and personable. None of his recent accolades have gone to his head. He chatted amicably, and even shared some of his hog-hunting stories with us.

We got down to business and ended up with some great shots.

Follow this link for more work by Miami Portrait Photographer Kate Benson.

Follow this link to read the article in the New York Observer about Jacob deGrom.