Artist’s Bio
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Erica Simone then lived in Los Angeles and Paris before graduating high school. She then moved to New York to study at F.I.T. With all the relocating and cultural opportunities, it's no wonder Simone grew up to be a photographer feeding off a cornucopia of interests and subject matter. Having collaborated on a number of different shoots, dancer/model/yoga instructor, Secada is one of Erica's favorite muses. "That girl is out of control - her energy is otherworldly and her body expression is a work of art in itself," she laughs.

Simone is definitely a portrait photographer. Even her beautiful cityscapes of Paris typically have a couple kissing at the edge of the Seine, or a lone figure under a streetlight. "I'm not so fond of still life," she claims. "It does nothing for me. But take a beautiful person inside and out, some movement and maybe a couple of funky outfits and I got NUTS. Capturing Secada fly through the air like that made me quite giddy I must say."

For her winning submission, Simone used a Canon EOS 50D with an 18-85mm lens, and shot the session in her studio apartment.

Why I needed the Pro-8Air for this shot:
The Profoto Pro-8a Air pack has crazy consistency. The speed it emits light is amazing. It's so fast and so constant. I put my camera on super-fast shutter speed. Every time she was in the air I fired off about four shots. She did some incredible moves, and I was able to capture them with this rig. I used a beauty dish in front of the model and one head on the side, with a reflector to light up her dress. If you saw my apartment, you wouldn't believe I had room to do this. I set up a nine-foot backdrop and was literally shooting from under my desk. I'm really excited how well it came out.