C Varela Photography, Miami

Cesar Varela never thought of photography as a serious pursuit until his wife became a magazine model. As he observed what photographers looked for in their models, he decided to try it for himself. He gathered his own lenses, cameras, and gear and used his wife as a test subject. At-home successes led him to shoot other models before eventually expanding his client base to include families, newlyweds, houses, and family members wearing house costumes. Though he’s since had work published by magazines, publishing companies, and websites, he feels most at ease shooting individual subjects in a photojournalistic style. In his high-rise studio, he photographs subjects in front of colored backdrops or on a balcony overlooking Miami’s sun-dappled skyline. When on location, he works to incorporate the environment—including water and sand, animals, and building architecture—as each shot's secondary subject, adding dimension without strapping 3-D glasses onto his camera. Believing that subjects’ comfort level shows through any pose, Cesar keeps them at ease by offering bits of easygoing direction and capturing candid shots.