When I was a child my father enjoyed Loteria.  He was very happy to show his children how he played the game as a child.  I played it many times and was always enamored of the images.  As a photographer I always wanted to do  my own version with a photo realistic approach.  Many have tried to photograph Loteria, but to do all 54 images as close to the real game in a photo realistic manner is difficult, even for an accomplished artist.   My progress on this major project can be seen here - http://www.lasphotos.com/loteria      I have a new appreciation for Loteria and have gone to great lengths to find the props and items in the game, making many of my own.  This project will take all my artistic and photographic skills to accomplish. 

For example, El Paragus was a technically difficult image to produce.  The umbrella is under simulated rain using real water drops.  The planning took several weeks.  The 14 foot 1/2" copper pipe was drilled with over 200 hotles and had water running in it.  The shot used 7 strobes and a complex set up to hang the backdrop and umbrella.  It took me over four hours to set this shot up.  And I shot from late afternoon until dusk, to get the perfect image.   Here is the set up:

And the final image after some work in Photoshop:

El Paraguas

Please visit my blog to see my progress.