J.C. Newman is a working cigar factory that happens to host weddings, and the film should look like it. Labif Filmhouse has filmed at El Reloj in Ybor City, and the mistake is treating it like a blank industrial box.
J.C. Newman Cigar Co. was founded in 1895 and is the oldest family-owned premium cigar maker in America. It has operated out of the El Reloj factory in Ybor City since 1954; the building itself went up in 1910. Brick, tall windows, ironwork and a clock tower — and it is the last operating cigar factory in Tampa. Three floors are now event space, renovated in 2019.
How it actually films
The tall factory windows are the light, and they are directional in a way modern venues never are. Light enters from one side and falls off fast, which gives faces shape instead of flat fill. That is flattering and it means camera position matters more here than at most venues.
Brick eats light. What reads as warm and textured to the eye can go muddy on camera without something bright in frame. The building rewards contrast — a white dress against brick is the whole point — but it punishes underexposure.
What to protect in the timeline
- Portraits on the factory floor while the light is side-on. Midday is the worst hour here, not the best.
- Use all three floors. They look like different buildings, which does the work a location change usually requires.
- The clock tower, from outside. It is the one frame that says Ybor City and nowhere else.
Lorissa + Jason
Filmed at J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in Ybor City, Tampa in December 2022. Their film is below.
Filmed at Jc Newman. See more of our Tampa wedding videography.