Doing a photoshoot in China is different than anything I have experienced on any set anywhere else in the world. Heck, just getting from the hotel to the set is like playing a video game when it comes to driving on the roads, or sidewalks for that matter. However, to go to a country expecting it not to have a different culture is ethnocentric and prepares one for nothing.

It was immediately evident how important Dwayne Wade was to Li-Ning and to China as a whole. People revere him and I know from working with him that his image and legacy are very important to him as well, which is why every detail of the shoot had to be perfect.

Upon walking into the gym, there were five large sets actively under construction by more than 40 workers on stilts and ladders. It was a production to be proud of and one that was overwhelming in scale, but could be understood when we focused on the shots individually. And when I say “shots” I mean many, many shots. We had Dwayne for eight hours, before he would need to leave to do the signing ceremony of his lifetime endorsement deal. In those eight hours, I had 39 different shots to capture. Yes, that is one shot every 12 minutes.

We needed efficiency to get all the images done in time and in order to make this run smoothly I needed a solid team. For the pre-lighting day I had 10 assistants, and for the shoot day we would bring on more. I had two translators and a rockstar-of-a-producer to handle them all. I wish I could thank them all by name in this piece, but the truth of the matter is that it was so busy of a set that I only got to shake hands with them at the end.