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Bahamas Travel: How I Got That Shot

With patience, you make your own luck.

When my niece was a little girl, we were walking on the powdery sands of Grand Cayman, and I suggested we stop to watch a soccer game on the beach. When I’m traveling, I love taking photos of people just living their lives, and action shots are a great way to do that. I’ve shot impromptu soccer games in Portovenere and Positano, Italy; in Buenos Aires; and in other gorgeous places. I told Shellie you have to have patience, and not try to follow the ball—it moves too fast for nonprofessional photographers.

Instead, I suggested we compose the shot with the player most likely to get the ball, and just wait, and once it gets close to him, just keep shooting. Shoot; don’t think; don’t plan. I just reminded her of that, and Shellie, now working towards a film degree at the University of Arizona, said, “That’s when you taught me the beauty of an action shot.”

So, a few days ago, when I was on a Makers Air Cessna Grand Caravan from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to Staniel Cay in the Exumas, I used the same principle. For a while I did shoot out my window at the blue swirls of water, but soon I realized that a lot of people get shots like that—and then I thought that few people get good pilot shots from inside the plane. Rarely do the pilots look at each other. Rarely does the lighting or the tight space work.

But when I saw Brian (captain) and Henry (co-pilot) being so confident, happy and comfortable with each other, I became almost certain that I would get the dual profile, so I just waited. My swivel seat helped me to line up the shot. I nearly got them looking at each other, but that was a vertical. So, I turned the camera for the (better) horizontal, avoiding the unsightly rolls of paper towels at the bottom of the frame, and got the shot—plus the happy accident of an early morning sun flare that lit up the cockpit ethereally, with the reflection of the sunrise on the ceiling. Light is magic. People happy in their work is magic.

Compose in the camera (I hate cropping) and wait for the image to come to you.

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.