As a fan of pro tennis player Sloane Stephens, I was excited to be asked to produce stills, video interviews, and BTS content for the wellness drink, Hydrant. The images and video were created for Social, Website and Print usage.

The client originally planned to shoot in Miami, but as production and the shoot date were confirmed, the location was updated to Orlando, where Sloane would be more available.

It seems all our assignments include some form of video. In this case, we wanted to produce footage that had an authentic, spontaneous feel, while maintaining a cinematic quality to the video.

We shot at the Ritz Carlton, in one of the ballrooms and in one of the suites. We were hoping to get outside for a few shots of her on the court, but it ended up pouring rain.

Sloane made it all easy. After the first 5 minutes of meeting her, we were in the groove and on the same page. I really couldn’t ask for a better subject!

There are in inherent challenges when shooting video with stills that need to be resolved well before the shoot.

Our first thoughts are always about the talent and how to accommodate them, so they are at ease on set and comfortable in front of the camera. If you met Sloane, you’d realize she’s a consummate pro and was ready from the word go! She seemed to love being in the limelight and on camera. Lucky us! As always, I do a little homework about the athletes I’m photographing so that I might connect quickly and have something in common.

Our second consideration was how to capture the appropriate “Look”, while staying agile and moving quickly since our time with Sloane was limited.

We set up a seamless stage in the ballroom, where we underlaid sheets of cut plywood so that Sloane wouldn’t sink into the carpeting and need to contend with the seamless paper.

For stills we used the Canon 5DMK IV and for our main video camera we used the Red Komodo.

We also used the new Canon R5 as our B roll camera.

For still lighting we used the Profoto B1’s and the Hudson Spider for its ease of use and quick set-up. The Spider is awesome when you want to light someone within an environment and blend, rather than overpower, the existing lighting while creating beautiful flattering light. It also allows you a range of looks, from very soft to very crisp.

In cases where we’re doing interviews and have the budget, we like to bring in a trusty sound engineer, who will utilize the appropriate mics, booms, etc.. They also keep track of the sound clips, and the sound quality, so everything lines up easily for the edit and has superior fidelity.

I started setting up at 7 am in the ballroom with my digital tech and one assistant. Zach our DP, his assistant camera operator, and one grip, started setting up in the suite upstairs concurrently. This way we didn’t waste any of Sloane’s time in the set up.

Sloane arrived at 9:00 am. We shot her in the ballroom set for an hour and a half or so. We did individual hero photos of her on white and black backgrounds, and then spent half an hour shooting her with the product and doing a few product only shots.

Moving upstairs, our lighting and video camera were set and we jumped into capturing the interviews for about an hour or so. We then quickly grabbed the outdoor gear and set up a scene on the tennis courts. Just as Sloane arrived, so did the rainstorm. Our original idea was to shoot Sloane on the courts first, in early light, but it was decided she’d get hot and sweaty on the court and we’d lose too much of her time changing and freshening her up for the inside shots.

All in all, everyone was thrilled. We came out of the shoot with several final selects and very natural interview clips.

Let me know if you’d like to hear more about our fun shoot with Sloane Stephens. Not only is Sloane an extraordinary tennis player, but she is also a truly fun person to be around.

Behind The Scenes With Pro Tennis Player Sloane Stephens For Hydrant