Paul Buceta

No, I didn't spell it wrong... Although I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Now, I have a general rule where I don't like to speak negatively about anyone or anything on my site but I have to make an exception in this case.

The Hurican Cafe in Punta Cana is a small restaurant I went to with a few of my peers from our last trip. We didn't really need to go to a restaurant for dinner as we were staying at an all inclusive resort but the manager offered us a free dinner, (No, I'm not naive, you'd be surprised what you get offered for free when you're traveling with a bunch of Playboy models).

You see, we were shooting on the beach close to the restaurant when the manager approached us with a tray full of beer. He then proceeded to invite us for the said free dinner. I told him he didn't have to do that, I'd be happy to come for dinner with my friends but only if he agreed to give us a really good price.

This manager prick swore up and down that it would be super cheap.

So we come to the Hurican Cafe for dinner and have a pretty good night... The manager was all smiles serving us up with smiles and answering any question and small talking the whole night.

I should have known something was up when I saw the manager give the bill to a bus-boy to bring to me.
To my surprise the bill was over $1,000.00!

WTF!

I got up to go see the manager regarding the bill and as soon as I did a bunch of guys came out of the kitchen as if to threaten me to pay.
I asked the manager what happened to the price he promised me?
To this he replied that the owner would not authorize it.

The lying, scandalous thief lied to me. I guess I was a sucker that night... Certainly over $1,000.00 poorer as a result.

I asked a couple of locals about the place afterward and all of them told me it had a bad reputation for this practice.

There is a bright side to this story tho.

1. I have written to the tourist bureau of both countries, as well as resorts surrounding Hurican Cafe of it's practices.

2. The next day I was going to shoot a spread for Playboy there and they would have made more on the location fee than the dinner. Obviously, I chose an alternate location.

3. I'm hopeful that enough people will read about their practices and avoid them, causing them more in lost revenues than they collected from me.

Karma is a bitch Marco - Kiss my cyber ass!

WEEEEEEEE - I feel much better now.

Ok, so I get requests to shoot models for tests for Playboy all the time.
They are always surprised to hear that I don't charge for Playboy tests as apparently there are other photographers that do.

Any photographer that says they test for Playboy all the time might not be lying - They just might be misleading models. You see, ANYONE with a camera can test for Playboy.

That's right, I'll say it again, ANYONE with a camera can test for Playboy.

If a photographer tells you they get published in Playboy all the time - check their resume.

There are only a handful of photographers that shoot for Playboy on a regular basis.
Doc Glidwell covered the list well here:
http://www.onemodelplace.com/doc_glidewell/doc_landing.cfm

Please keep this in mind if a photographer wants to charge you to shoot a test.

If you want to give away your money - Call me first.

But it did make me laugh.

I was looking over google maps and decided to take a look for some of the different resorts I've been to for shoots.

I did find a few;


This is an aerial view of Fantasy Island Resort in Roatan - An Island of Honduras.



This one is of Allegro resort in Punta Cana (Left). This was the first resort I met Elle Patille at.
The Resort on the right is the Punta Cana Grand. This was the resort I shot Amy Lynn Grover and Sarah Scotford at. You can see those pics here: http://www.paulbuceta.com/images/photography/dominican2006b/index.html

Memories.

I suppose all good things must, at some point, come to an end.

So it's with heartfelt sadness I announce that Lori Fabrizio has left the team. After four amazing and memorable years of working together, Lori Fabrizio has decided to tackle a new career.

I'm sad to see her go.

Moving on...

I've decided not to look far and not to settle for anything but the best as a replacement.

Therefore, I've decided to bring Giancarlo Intini and Valeria Nova on board to help fill the void left behind.

Valeria Nova

I have worked with both artists in the past and found their work to be spectacular.

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Giancarlo and Valeria to the team and also wish Lori all the best in her endeavors - You'll be missed girl.

Ok, so I went out for lunch today with Jacqueline Megaw. At the studio we call her knuckles...
I actually wasn't planning on explaining why but why not, I have the time.

A while back, we were shooting her for a magazine and her complexion being as fair as it is, posed a bit of a problem. You see, she's a true porcelain beauty. Whiter than my ass... A comment I'm sure she's going to love.
Anyhow, during the shoot, we noticed her knuckles where a bit red and they really stood out from the rest of her. The make up artist at the time (Giancarlo Intini) put some powder on her to blend everything.
From that day forward, Jackie has been known as knuckles.



Can you guess which one is Jackie from the above pic? She's the one keeping us from getting hit by cars at night.

So back to the story. Knuckles and I went to grab some lunch today. (We both ate like pigs... She ate the pickle).
We got on the topic of how making lists help us get through the day productively. She told me I should put on my list, "To write a journal entry".

So here I am crossing off one of the items on my list and sharing with you the fact that where there was a nice big juicy pimple on Jackie's chin this morning, there is nothing but a nice red spot now - I wonder what happened?

I've been wanting to get into some really good shape for quite some time now.
I've been going to the gym and getting better but haven't really had much direction, ambition or motivation to get into killer shape.

Until now.

I found out that the publisher of MuscleMag, Oxygen, Maximum Fitness, REPS! and Clean Eating magazines is holding an in-house fitness contest.

Being a photographer for these magazines I was permitted to join the contest.

So today I went in, put on some pretty small shorts and went through a super embarrassing experience.
The Editor in Chief of Oxygen Magazine took my picture as I stood there in these little shorts pushing my stomach out for my before picture. The Fitness editor Pam Mazzuca took my FAT measurements.
It's soo weird that I would be uncomfortable. That's the first time I ever pushed out my stomach in front of women.

Anyhoo, I'm off to the gym first thing tomorrow with a new found ambition and direction.

I really hope I don't come in last place!!!

I'll post pics of my process as time permits.

I had a few photographer friends over last night to watch the latest UFC.
Jacqueline Megaw, Kris Josef and Ward LaForme Jr. joined me for drinks and fisticuffs.

I noticed a funny thing this morning while cleaning up - Everyone left their pizza crusts behind.

Is this a trend amongst photographers?

Someone please stop me.

I can eat prosciutto and soppressata until my jaw hurts.

I haven’t taken a vacation in my life where I didn’t even get a picture of myself.

What’s more, I was in bed before midnight every night and up early every morning. I ate very well and drank very little. It might not seem like a tough thing to do but the ‘all inclusive’ lifestyle is very hard to keep in check.

So what did I do? I spent the whole time lying on a lawn chair by the pool enjoying the atmosphere and reflecting over my last few years.

I’m not unhappy at all. I’m just not entirely satisfied with things. I find with a certain degree of success comes a large amount of complacency. In the past, I would spend hours editing photos, hours emailing people, hours updating my website… Now, I don’t do much of anything other than work. And when I do have free time, I lie to myself about how busy I am.

Focus and discipline, that’s the order of the day! I want to be as creative as possible, and more importantly, as productive as possible. I found I was happiest when completing tasks and even more happy when the tasks resulted in any form of success.

The saddest part of it all… I’m hopeful I can find the humor again. For some reason, I can’t seem to find anything funny to write right now.

Wait a sec… I just found something; a bird shit on me while I was reflecting.

If you've ever taken the time to read further back in my journal, you would have noticed a bunch of entries regarding Liz Hubbard. I used to refer to her as the nuts in my gum.


Liz Hubbard

Anyhow, a while back she landed a role in the movie American Pie - Beta House.
Needless to say, I was supper proud of her as she also managed to get a great lead spot on the movie poster below;



To make things ever more cool was the fact that another very good friend of mine Michelle Suppa ALSO got a part in the movie and ALSO got on the poster cover. I originally met Michelle on a shoot for Playboy's Special Editions. I remember calling her with news of her acceptance into Playboy... She screamed sooo loud and started hyper-ventilating on the phone.

Michelle Suppa is on the right of the guy and Liz Hubbard is on the left.


Michelle Suppa

I'm so proud of my girls!!!

I've had some renos done to the place but one of the things I never got done was the stupid staircase.
I hate it; It's an absolute eyesore that just simply doesn't go with the rest of the house.

With the economy being the way it is I decided to hold off and go the with the cheapest alternative to replacing the banister... Painting it with cheap labour.

Here's the cheapest labour I could find.

Last year I threw a pool party, took a few pics and posted them online.
At the time I didn't give it a whole hell of a lot of thought but within two weeks of posting my pool party pics I was inundated with over 200 emails from people who wanted to be invited to the next one.



Fast forward a year and because of renovations at my house I'm throwing my pool party in the Caribbean. Why not - It's December and I hate cold and snow.



So I sent invitations to select models and guest photographers and the response has been overwhelming - Again.

At the time of writing, SELLOFFVACATIONS.COM has sold out of their block and ITRAVEL2000.COM has only four tickets left.

The resort is spectacular and everyone is sooo excited. I can't wait.

WEEEEEEEEEEE

Ashley Byford comes into the studio the other morning laughing that she had a rip in her pants on the weekend.

I didn't think much about it as I think we've all pretty much have experienced the same thing.

She goes on to tell me she went grocery shopping and out for a nice stroll and it wasn't till she got home that she notices the rip.



OMG did I ever laugh out loud.

I have a video of her explanation I'll post on here as well... soon.

Here are some pics from our second last trip to Vegas.
Take note of the sizes of the drinks. They are some killer strong (and big) rum and cokes.
I think the girls had 3 or 4 each!!!
My bar tab came out to $350.00 for the afternoon!






Me getting warmed up.



My girl Elle.









My Angels. I am seriously one lucky MOFO!



Lori will hate it but I think this pic is sexy as sin!






I hate when they fight for my attention.






That is NOT me in the middle. I'm shorter.




Jamie Villamor is a Las Vegas model I absolutely love working with. She's hot, fun to be with and down right awesome! Wait till you see the shots of her I did on the strip!!!

I was showing a friend of mine some of the old videos on my website. I couldn't help feel sad I never continued with this. The truth is, I did, I just never found the time to get around to editing them.

If I keep finding breaks for leisure time, as I've been forcing myself to lately, I'm hopeful to get around to shooting and editing more.

No promises.

So I came into the studio hungry for some cereal and what do I find???

Ashley had torn open the milk bag with her teeth.

I have proof.

I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago for the Olympia.
While there, I rode the single scariest ride ever - The X Scream at the Stratosphere.

When I say it's scary, I mean it.

Here's a shot of what Lori Fabrizio thought of it.



Note the tears and sheer fear on her face - I looked no more brave than her.

It you ever get to Vegas - Make sure to do it and send me your pics!

I got to Las Vegas yesterday morning and spent the day drinking by the pool.
I drank way too much and ended up missing dinner.

I feel particularly bad about this as Lori and I came down to celebrate Elle Patille's birthday.
Still, we had lots of fun and laughed the WHOLE day!

I'm such a moron - I didn't even bring my little camera with me!!!

I promise not to let these photo opps pass by any more.

Current gambling $$$ profit / loss = -$100.00

I've been shooting some stuff piecemeal here and there and lately I've really been loving the results.

I think my work has taken a cool turn for the better - at least I think so.

Here's my latest fav



Elle Patille is one sexy woman. I don't know if I could have obtained such an awesome capture with anyone else.

God bless her.