Ben Alonso met Natalia Rivera and her 7-year-old daughter on a sunny afternoon earlier this month at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Five minutes later, the strangers were sitting on the green grass in an open field, laughing, cuddling, reading and having a picnic as a happy family.

The three natives of Colombia were part of a group of Latino models posing for photographer John Henley, who was shooting thousands of frames, freezing the happy expressions, family walks, group interactions and single portraits.

The photo shoot in Henrico County was the first of at least three planned by Modelogic Wilhelmina, a modeling agency in Richmond.

The 30 models were selected from an initial Latino casting recently for a follow-up photo shoot to create a division of local Hispanic talent to meet the increasing demand from busi nesses and advertising and production companies, said President Stacie Vanchieri.

Modelogic Wilhelmina focuses on commercial modeling.

The agency's clients range from Jeep and Chrysler to TV and movie productions to retailers such as Kmart, Circuit City and S&K Menswear.

Vanchieri said she will upload the photo images on a new Hispanic models Web site for clients and potential clients to see.

"We just have noticed this trend that our clients are requiring more and more Hispanic talent every year," she said. "No local agency is focusing on Latino talent, so I thought it might be a good idea to open a division of Hispanic/Latino models to the market."

For Jackie Bird, chair-elect of the board of directors of the McLean-based Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, the increased demand for Latino models reflects the growing advertising market nationwide to that community.

That means reaching more than 42 million potential Hispanic customers, the largest and fastest-growing minority in the country with a buying power expected to hit nearly $900 billion this year.

Wanting a piece of the big pie, businesses are making sure they are visible in that market. The Hispanic advertising industry is outpacing all other sectors of advertising, said Bird, who is the president and chief executive officer of the marketing company Winglatino.

"In the last four years, the Hispanic advertising industry has tripled from 1.1 billion to 4 billion," she said from her office in New York. "If you are targeting the Latino market, you want to represent the Latino community in the advertising."

For 14 years, Modelogic Wilhelmina has been doing work in print, TV, broadcasting and industry training videos. About two years ago, Vanchieri said, she began noticing businesses demanding more Hispanic models.

Until now, when asked for Latino or Asian models, she had to bring in talent from places such as New York or the West Coast, she said.

"I don't necessarily want to do that anymore. I want to use local talent," she said.

Realizing that the population in Richmond has become more diverse over the years, the agency did a couple of casting calls for Hispanic and Asian models at the office, but no one showed up.

For the last Latino casting earlier this month, the agency and photographer Ariel Skelley, from Ariel Skelley Photography, worked with Leo Caldas, a self-employed graphic designer from the Dominican Republic, to get the word out.

Caldas, who lives in Richmond, spread the word through e-mail, friends and organizations and suggested that the casting be held in the community because it would be harder to bring potential models to the agency's office in Church Hill.

To Vanchieri's surprise, scores of families and some grandparents from a host of Latin American countries and with many levels of acculturation in the U.S came to Bodega Latina at 6003 W. Broad St. Modelogic will be recruiting more models at the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's Feria de Oportunidad (Opportunity Fair) July 21 at Cloverleaf Mall.

"To have 80 to 90 people in a casting is wonderful," Vanchieri said.

She said she was looking for regular, next-door kind of people.

"We are looking for people with good skin, good teeth . . . a friendly smile and a friendly face," she said. "We are not looking for high cheekbones, size 2 and super tall. It's not Vogue magazine modeling, it's commercial modeling."

Vanchieri said her agency is preferably looking for baby-boomer Latino models. They are in demand by real estate, banking, communications, insurance and law-firm businesses, she said. Older models are harder to find.

"People in that age group don't think, 'Oh, I should try modeling'," she said. "If you are between age 20-25 is good, between 30-60 is great."

Vanchieri was impressed with Rebeca Orsatti, 51, a mother of five children from Mexico who lives in Amelia County with her husband, the Rev. Louis Orsatti, pastor of a Hispanic congregation at Branch's Baptist Church in South Richmond.

"She is beautiful. She is the age we want," she said.

Models make $150 an hour, more for major projects such as billboards.

Ben Alonso, 27, a health-care planner for HIV services at Virginia Department of Health, said he was happy to be among the models.

"I think in business and other public service announcements, people identify best with people who look like them," he said.

Alonso said it felt natural to be in an outdoors setting, talking on the phone and having a picnic.

"Keeping a smile for a long time when nothing is really funny can be a little difficult," he said. "I need to work on that."

Diana Delcher, 27, who lives in Chesterfield County with her husband, Chris, came with their 5-month-old son Ian to the photo shoot.

She was paired with Panamanian Marcos Gonzalez, 30, to act as a family taking a walk in the garden.

"The acting was a little difficult," Delcher, an interpreter, translator and college student, said.

Delcher, a native of El Salvador, said it is satisfying to know that businesses are putting more attention to Latinos, she said.

"Now they know that we contribute our part to the economy, and they have to reach that group," she said.

Greg Simos, director of broadcast production at the Martin Agency, said that models from different racial and ethnic backgrounds are needed. Businesses that are not targeting specific markets want to reach people across the board, he said, and they want such diversity to be represented in their marketing.

When The Martin Agency has done advertising for clients marketing in Spanish-language media such as Telemundo or Univision, Latino models and writers have been hired.

"You can't necessarily just convert English to Spanish," he said. "The concept doesn't translate as well."

Having to go outside the local market for models and writers incurs additional expenses for production, Simos said.

"If we had a bigger base to choose from locally, it would be more cost-effective," he said. Tapping into the local population, "I think it's not only great for the advertisers, but for the community as a whole. It builds up the local community for advertisers and for feature producers who come to town."

Stacy Murphy, executive producer at Park Group, a production company in Richmond, has been producing commercials for 20 years, nine with her current employer.

A couple of years ago, Park Group did a bilingual commercial for Donate Life, she said.

"Often, talent did not come from Richmond," she said. "Everything had to come out of market or they shot a version in Spanish in places like Texas."

The company is working with another organ-donor client that wants a commercial for Asian communities, she said.

"I think that the name of the game seems to be diversity, diversity," she said. "It's sort of the mantra for every client out there."

It is key that Vanchieri and her agency is focusing on local talent, she said.

"There has been a need for Asians and Latinos," she said. "It's great for her to focus on this."

As a young sportsman growing up in Richmond, Ellyson "Elly" Robinson III looked at the Virginia Anglers Club with stars in his eyes.

Joe Brooks, Bill Gallasch and other angling luminaries gave the club a certain status.

"I thought to myself, 'Maybe one of these days I'll prove my fishing ability enough to be invited to belong,'" Robinson said.

That day came in 1977, when boyhood friend John Wycoff sponsored him as a member. Rubbing elbows with such talented anglers kindled a new ambition, one that didn't fully catch fire until the early 1980s.

In May 1982 while fishing around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Robinson set three world records, catching a 9-pound, 14-ounce bluefish on 2-pound test line and two weakfish -- one 11 pounds, 12 ounces on 2-pound test and the other 13 pounds on 4-pound test line.

"Three world records in a period of two weeks kind of jump-starts you on a life of light-tackle fishing," he said.

During the ensuing decades, Robinson compiled a long list of angling achievements that now qualifies him for star status. At the club's annual banquet next weekend, he will be formally celebrated as a master angler.

"It's an incredible accomplishment," said Bob Shepherd, club president.

Only five others have made master angler since the club began in 1961. The founders envisioned it somewhat as a mission impossible.

Freshwater and saltwater species. Leaping fish, deep fish, surface fish, billfish, big fish, little fish. Plug tackle, spinning gear, fly rods, artificial lures, the lightest of possible lines and tippets.

"I don't know if anybody, when they first set it up, really expected anybody to ever achieve it," Shepherd said. "It's a lifetime goal that's set out there for you to work toward."

Robinson, who is retired after a 35-year career with Dupont, had worked to within two steps of that goal by last year. He needed a 7½-pound largemouth bass on plug tackle, as well as a tarpon on a fly rod. Both catches had to meet strict standards. Arthritis also complicated things, stiffening Robinson's shoulders to the point he required surgery to replace his left shoulder in January 2003.

"I was thinking I'd never be able to get master angler because of physical limitations," he said earlier this week in the trophy room of his house in Chesterfield County. As he spoke, the dull glow of a mild midwinter's morning spilled through frames of glass to light a Hemingway-like haven -- exposed wooden beams, fireplace, mounted whitetail trophy bucks, a stuffed gobbler, foxes, quail and fish after fish after fish, from molasses cobia to gleaming African pompano.

As ever with quests, help came in the form of friends. Mike Ostrander, a club member who operates James River Fishing School, invited Robinson to a private pond near West Point. They'd come within 2 ounces of landing that largemouth the year before, and a February day with a cold front looming provided another opportunity.

"The fishing was red hot," Robinson said.

Most were in the 2- to 5-pound range. Then something a little heftier hit his Senko worm.

"I said, 'Mike, this really feels good.'"

Robinson battled it to the boat and landed a 7-pound, 12-ounce largemouth, allowing him to put a critical checkmark on his list.

"There was elation, but the elation was overshadowed by 'How am I going to catch tarpon on fly? Now I know I've got to invest the time, effort and pain to get that last fish.'"

Another club member, Glenn Carter, buddied with him to Key Largo in April for the final leg of the quest. After two dozen casts the first morning, Robinson caught and released the requisite tarpon on 12-pound tippet.

It was not his most impressive catch, but the competition for that is stiff, given the seven world records he's held at various times.

Robinson said his three favorite catches are: a world record 33-pound, 8-ounce African pompano caught on 6-pound test line at the Manuela wreck off the Outer Banks, N.C.; an 11-pound, 15-ounce spadefish hooked on 2-pound test over the fourth-island tube of the bridge-tunnel (both required more than two hours to land); and the weakfish catch of 1982 on 2-pound line, a world record that still stands.

His least favorite?

"I hate surf casting. I can't stand surf fishing," he said.

But with help of fellow master anglers Bill DuVal and Stuart Lee and other club members, he succeeded.

The cooperative spirit among skilled, diverse anglers guides the Virginia Anglers Club, Robinson said. And that's what has helped him reach master status.

"The whole time I've been in the club, I've been able to take advantage of the expertise that others have," he said. "And you reciprocate. . . . You can't expect to receive if you aren't willing to share."

Savory feasts were part of every family celebration when Suzanne Wolstenholme was growing up in Richmond.

My grandparents lived next door and my grandfather would bring a steamship round of beef home to celebrate birthdays," Wolstenholme recalled. "My mom and grandma were both good cooks."

The chairwoman of Homemades by Suzanne remembers how her mother would let her help in the kitchen.

"The first thing they would let me make was Jell-O. That was when I was 3 years old," said Wolstenholme, 59. "In that day and age mothers spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I used to like to be with my mother so I stayed with her. She would find something for me to do."

Wolstenholme's career in food surfaced in a roundabout way.

An avid tennis player, Wolstenholme would search for something to eat in Ashland after finishing her game.

"I could get a pizza or a hamburger or fried chicken," she said. "But there was no where to pick up a sandwich quickly. I thought I could open a place where you could pick up good food, made from scratch."

Wolstenholme found encouragement in her family but not in the professional arena. "All the professionals said that I didn't have any experience and opening a restaurant was difficult for people who did have experience because one in every five restaurants close within the first year of operation," Wolstenholme recalled.

Still determined, Wolstenholme continued with her idea. She bought equipment at auctions to avoid financial debt and her father bought the Ashland building that would become the headquarters for Homemades by Suzanne.

"I was terrified that he bought it and we might go out of business in six months," Wolstenholme said. "I was afraid to open, afraid that no one would come."

One day as she prepared for the restaurant's opening, Wolstenholme heard a knock at the door. She could see a pair of slippers through the crack under the door. The woman wearing them was from the Ashland Garden Club.

"She wanted me to open the restaurant for one Saturday so the judges from the Daffodil Show would have somewhere to eat," Wolstenholme recalled. "We opened and they were all so complimentary. It gave me the courage to open the restaurant to the public."

Wolstenholme began serving lunch -- chicken salad and homemade rolls were her specialty six days a week. She started the business in 1982 with one table and chairs.

"Every day we would have to go out and get another table and chairs," she said. "In a couple of weeks, the room was filled with tables and chairs."

Wolstenholme soon began the catering arm of her business. "That has been the part of the business that has really been profitable and grown," she said. "We continued to do a lot of boxed lunches at our Ashland restaurant. We started doing gift baskets with prepared homemade foods about five years after we opened."

In 1989, Wolstenholme opened her second store on Sixth Street in Richmond's downtown business district. She opted to relocate 10 years later. That's when she happened upon the old Engineer's Club -- the building also served as the Cotton Club at one time.

"We leased the building in 1999 and changed the name to The Colony Club," Wolstenholme said. "We renovated it and decorated it like it was when it was The Engineer's Club. This is something we hoped for. Very few caterers south of Maryland have their own catering facility where they have events, wedding receptions, fundraisers, etc."

The downtown location, at 10 E. Franklin St., is the hub for Wolstenholme's boxed-lunch business as well as her catering business. "We do about 400 to 500 boxed lunches a day out of the kitchen," she said.

Wolstenholme caters at least one wedding every Saturday. "We do full-service catering from here," she said. "We have a large meeting room downstairs and we would like to do more corporate events."

Sherrie Becker of Becker & Calliott Marketing hires Wolstenholme to handle a variety of events. "She handles everything from a 30-person luncheon to a 500-person banquet for us," Becker said. "She maintains the same quality and freshness for any size event."

Rick Lunsford, floral designer for Blooms at The Jefferson Hotel, also works with Wolstenholme on events. He is intrigued with her presentations.

"She uses interesting props," he said. "I think she does the best presentation of anyone in Richmond."

In recent years Wolstenholme has taken on two young partners; both have worked for her since they were in high school. Sheila Clark serves as the catering manager and Kim Mills is the Ashland store manager.

"They've worked here so long that they are interchangeable," Wolstenholme said. "My husband has also worked with me from the beginning. He does the early-bird morning duty."

Although a dedicated businesswoman, Wolstenholme, a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond, also is civic-minded. She serves as president of the Hanover Humane Society, which runs the Ashland Theater. She is past president of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and a past board member of the Patrick Henry YMCA.

"Suzanne is a tremendous asset to our community," said Cameron Wood, executive director of the Hanover Association of Businesses and Chamber of Commerce. "She participates in all types of charitable events, donating her time and services without hesitation."

Wood sees Wolstenholme as a boon to local business.

"Her business brings so many other people to the downtown Ashland area. She has been a great attraction from an economic development point of view."