Los Angeles, California

By Mario Anzuoni

Cinqo de Mayo, Spanish for the fifth of May, commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla.

Living in Los Angeles, there are many ways this date is celebrated. One of them in particular attracted my attention this year. It was the Lucha VaVoom, a show of Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling and Burlesque performances at the Mayan theatre in Los Angeles.

By Mario Anzuoni

I was invited to Sony studios to shoot a portrait of actor David Spade during a lunch break from the taping of his television series “Rules of Engagement”.

I anticipated this would be quite a quick opportunity, after being told to be ready promptly at 2 pm to catch David before his lunch. Once there I was told I would be able to set up in their green room, an office type of room (not the most exciting setting for a portrait). As my allotted time approached I kept thinking that it would have been ideal if I would have been able to photograph him on the actual set, placing him into the context of the tv series. As I watched from the sidelines, right before the break, I was introduced to the stage manager.

By Mario Anzuoni

Comic-Con is an annual 4-day comic book and popular arts convention which attracts more than 100,000 visitors.

GALLERY: COMIC-CON 2012

This was not my first time at Comic-Con, so I was prepared for the 100,000 plus crowd of loyal fans of the comic world to descend on San Diego. The “con” as they call it is especially and mostly about them. They travel from far, sleep in their cars, stand in line for hours, and most importantly they dress up for it.

By Mario Anzuoni

I was assigned to cover this year’s MTV Movie Awards. These awards are voted by audiences online and besides some of the traditional awards, they also give out unique ones, such as: the “best on-screen dirtbag,” the “best kiss” and “best fight” award.

The challenging part of the assignment was that my position was in a regular audience seat on the main floor, in a show that has much audience participation and standing up. It translated in me free handling the 400mm lens to get a clear shot, past the standing crowd.

I was assigned to cover the 11th season finale of “American Idol” at the Nokia theatre in downtown Los Angeles. The show culminates after months of nationwide eliminations and crowns a new winner in a two-hour televised show.

The show features the last two finalists and generally an array of high profile music performances. Our shooting position was next to the teleprompter, so my setup was a Canon Mark IV with 400mm, 5D Mark II with a 70-200 and another Mark IV with either a 300mm or a 16-35.

By Mario Anzuoni

I was assigned to cover the unveiling ceremony of a star on the Walk of Fame for actress Scarlett Johansson. The Walk of Fame, which stretches for more than a mile, has become one of the backbones for Hollywood tourism. Hundreds of brass stars are embedded on the Hollywood Blvd sidewalks to celebrate people who distinguished themselves in the world of entertainment.

The unveiling generally offers a good photo opportunity, in this case, besides a high caliber name like Johansson, the location was in the epicenter of Hollywood, a few steps from the Chinese theater and right in front of Madame Tussauds wax museum. With that in mind I decided to step up my traditional front and center coverage and set up a remote camera from the side since I wanted to immortalize Scarlett in the full Hollywood atmosphere.

By Mario Anzuoni

I met Kelly Edwards on a street corner. He was not the average person you see at traffic lights; he was nicely dressed, freshly shaven with a professional demeanor, holding a sign that stated he was looking for work. I handed him my business card and kindly asked him to get in touch with me.

Given the job situation and the U.S. economy struggling to create new jobs, I was interested in knowing more. Two days later Kelly called. We spent an hour on the phone where he started to tell me his story. At that point I asked if I could spend a day with him to show an average day of job seeking; he agreed. About a week later, I arrived at Kelly’s home in West Covina where he greeted me with freshly brewed coffee.

By Mario Anzuoni

The Golden Gods awards is a celebration of the most influential heavy metal and hard rock bands, sponsored by the industry magazine Revolver. This year, for the first time in the award’s four year history, the 2-hour show, featuring multiple headbanging performances in an extremely loud concert-like atmosphere, would be televised live on the xbox network. And if that wasn’t enough to make the night interesting, I was informed before the show that a very special guest was going to be a part of the finale this year.

The show kicked off with a performance by Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx, followed by Gene Simmons of KISS receiving a special Golden God award for his career achievements. The show just got louder from there, with performances by the Hollywood-based band Black Veil Brides and Dee Snider, then Slash performing with Alice Cooper. Then came Evanescence followed by Tenacious D duo Jack Black and Kyle Gass presenting Rush drummer Neil Peart with a Lifetime Achievement award.

By Mario Anzuoni

This year, as in the past, I was assigned to shoot the show portion of the annual Kids Choice awards. The show caters to an audience of children and teenagers and most importantly all the awards are voted on by the kids. The main star of the show is always the green slime – which the kids and some of the celebrities get plenty of.

A few days ahead of the show there was an announcement that the First Lady of the U.S. was going to attend the show with daughters Sasha and Malia to present The Big Help Award to singer Taylor Swift.