I shot this image for Mudhole’s 2010 Calendar photo contest. Mudhole (www.mudhole.com) is one of the largest fishing rod building supply stores in the country and it just happens to be in Oviedo (just outside of Orlando).

The table is actually just a ping pong table that I do all of my rod building on top of. I lit the scene with an Alienbee ABR800 ring flash as the key light and an Elinchrom d-lite2 for fill. The scene really needed the 200 watt elinchrom just to throw in those highlights on the black ring of the guide. Without it, almost the entire guide was lost in the darkness of the background.

For the tackle junkies, this is my tarpon rod. It’s a Lamiglas TEX-96-1ML with titanium coated Fuji SiC guides. I bought the blank rod as soon as it came out and was actually one of first people in the Tampa area to even own it. It is the same rod that some of the best tarpon guides in the bay now personally use. I know because my mentor builds their rods. What makes this rod so special is the pictured portion of the rod itself. It’s made of a material called Texalium (aluminum impregnated carbon fiber). This rod is rated for 12-20# line but easily fishes up to 50#, which makes it such a popular choice for tarpon.

the most interesting part of my day is deciding what to eat. every mall is packed with all kinds of restaurants. i feel like i need to try every single one.

this is my typical lunch @ chowking. yang chow fried rice, fried tofu and a large coke for 155 pesos ($3). you can get fried dumplings as a topping with the yang chow for an additional 35 pesos ($.70).

i met up with my cousin kristen for dinner at GoodEarth in GreenBelt. this was our appetizer, the Tunaquitos. they’re little tuna sashimi tacos! AWESOME!

the dinner @ GoodEarth was duck fried rice, fried lapu lapu (top), shangsung chicken (right), and beef with asparagus (not pictured).

our drinks at GoodEarth… i can’t remember what it was called. it was a tea with those jelly cubes and lychee slices.

this was my dinner @ SuperSandwiches at Shangri La Mall the other day. the waitress actually asked me if i was going to eat this all by myself! i ate half the sandwich before i remember to take a picture. Its a mediterranean basil chicken sandwich (with the freshest lettuce, cucumbers and tomatos), mushroom & bacon (REAL bacon… like salt cured ham) baked potato, and a mango & strawberry smooth… all for 320 pesos (about $6.50) … and yes i ate it all.

i’ve been reading alot of local magazines to learn the industry and one entrepreneur i read about, owns this chain of restaurants called Pepper Lunch. i always see the place really busy but i never tried it. so today i went for lunch and i’m sad i didn’t try this place earlier! the concept is a fastfood japanese steakhouse. at the counter, where you order your food, there’s an lcd screen that shows you how to mix the food when you get it. the food is prepared on that special skillet which is then heated on an electromagnetic stove (japanese patented) to 260 degrees celcius. it’s served to you just as is in the picture (raw). just mix it up and the skillet cooks it right there! its just like the stone rice bowls you get at some of the nicer restaurants back home. i ordered a double beef pepper steak with peppered (and buttered) rice and a side of cream of mushroom soup.