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Photo of a single Christmas tree glowing on a tree farm by professional photographer Scott Holstein.

By Scott Holstein

Merry Christmas from professional photographer Scott Holstein! I took landscape photos of this single Christmas tree shining with lights in a sea of trees on a tree farm in Havana, Florida for the cover of Tallahassee magazine. After I picked the best tree and chose my composition, creative director Larry Davidson and designer Saige Roberts styled it by decorating it with Christmas lights powered by a generator that we hauled on location. I shot at dusk to get a proper exposure so the glow of the Christmas lights stood out in relation to the darker, unlit evergreens in the foreground…

Photo of cat feeding time at Caboodle Ranch in Florida by editorial photographer Scott Holstein.

By Scott Holstein

Out in Madison County, near a place called Lee, Florida, lived a man with 500 cats. Craig Grant loved cats so much that he bought 30 acres of rural property and opened Caboodle Ranch, a safe haven for unwanted felines. Feral cats, stray cats, abandoned cats, unwanted cats, shelter cats who would otherwise be put down – Grant welcomed them all. Tallahassee magazine caught wind of Grant while doing a story on the effort to trap, fix, and re-release feral cats in Tallahassee. So I headed out to Caboodle Ranch to do some editorial photography for a magazine article of…

Creative photography of a woman’s face reflected in the pupil of her own eye.

By Scott Holstein

Filed under: Personal Projects

One day back in college, I realized I could see my reflection in my own pupil while looking into a mirror. I thought it might make interesting and creative photography so I enlisted fellow photographer Joel Fluty to endure some pretty strong off-camera flash blasts to the face. After sacrificing Joel’s vision, I determined that it was theoretically possible to make a portrait of someone’s reflection inside their own eye, but it would not be easy to accomplish. I recently revisited the idea with some better equipment and a handful of patient models. This was indeed a very technically difficult…

Creative photography of a warrior woman emerging from the water while firing a machine gun.

By Scott Holstein

“Rambabe” is my latest personal project, done just for kicks as a creative recharge. It is, of course, inspired by the Rambo movies; I own the ’80s trilogy. While watching it one day I decided it would be fun to make creative images that change it up a bit and have a beautiful, tough woman as the “one man army” instead of a sweaty dude (no offense, Stallone). And since I’m from Florida, there was never any question that she would be in the water. I scouted several places in the Tallahassee region, originally looking for something swampy that might…

Photo of two cave divers floating in a sinkhole, created using a cheap underwater camera housing.

By Scott Holstein

The Tallahassee, Florida region lays claim to a unique topographical feature – the Woodville Karst Plain. The karst plain is made of irregular limestone and underground water channels which are tied into the Floridan Aquifer. The Woodville Karst Plain is home to first magnitude springs, sinkholes, and the longest underwater cave system in the United States. As such, the region has great appeal to a courageous and adventurous type of person – the cave diver. An article in Tallahassee magazine was featuring a local couple who cave dives – Aletheia and Andre Lange – whom I was to photograph. While…

Portrait of NFL quarterback Christian Ponder's dog licking his face by Tallahassee photographer Scott Holstein.

By Scott Holstein

Tallahassee magazine was doing a story on the local animal shelter – the Tallahassee-Leon County Animal Service Center – which was recently awarded $25,000 from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for inspiring the community and adopting out 1,200 animals in 90 days. As it turns out, local celebrity, quarterback Christian Ponder for the Florida State University Seminoles football team, had recently adopted a dog from the shelter. I was tapped to work with Ponder to create the Tallahassee magazine photography that would accompany the story. A couple of days before his last game in his…

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