Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

A fashion photo shoot with one of the NFL’s top players, Terrell Suggs. When I got the call I couldn’t contain my excitment !

This is one photo that I love and it happened by accident.  We shot at Beachwood Studio in Hollywood, great studio by the way.  The ceiling has skylights and they have a door that you can close to block out the light or open it to let the light in.  Well while we were shooting the doors were open and at one point I noticed how cool the light falling on the models looked.  I turned  to my first assistant and told him to look at it and he agreed that it looked really dramatic and interesting.  So we shut off  the strobes and clicked away.  The bottom catch light you see in the male model on the right is a 4′x8′ white board that my second assistant was holding under them to bounce some light back into the shadows.

Now granted, this kind of lighting really works best with male models.  Yes there are some hot spots but so what ?  Fashion is not about perfect exposures.  Fashion is about experimenting and thinking outside the box because there is no right or wrong.  It’s all subjective.

So the major point I want to stress here is that no matter where you are shooting, no matter how much time you have spent planning, be open to other opportunities.  As photographers we are observers.  I was and still am the guy that hangs at the back of the room at a party and watches and studies the people and how they act, interact etc.  Always observe your surroundings.  We have a sixth sense so use it !

Now back to the shoot. This was by far the most fun I had on a shoot.  Terrell Suggs is a monster on the field.  Look him up. He is a killing machine.  Off the field he is the most humble and nicest person I have ever met.  He speaks very quietly and is very calm and controlled.  Terrell flew his best friends out from Arizona to take part in the shoot.  These guys have never done a photo shoot before so they were in heaven especially when they saw the five female models we casted.  As soon as we started setting up I hear rap and R&B blaring from the sound system.  I look over and there are nine guys dressed in beautiful suits dancing and gettin jiggy wit it !  LOL   You would have thought you were at a club instead of a photo shoot.  The mood was fun, happy and very light. Meanwhile I am blocking it all out because of course I had to concentrate and direct my assistants.  The lighting set up was pretty interesting.  I’m going to make a lighting diagram and post it.

The music didn’t for the whole 10 hour day. I seriously have not laughed like that ever in my life.  Here are some more photos and they haven’t gone through post yet. I don’t mind showing my work right out of the camera because I shoot to get it as close to perfect straight out of the camera.  The theme for the shoot was James Bond.  The photos will be used for Terrell’s charity event to support Sickle Cell Anemia research which will be held in Baltimore Sept. 11th – 13th.   As always please comment, ask questions and subscribe to the RSS feed !

The third day of our fashion photography workshop involved learning how to light on location mixing the sun with your off camera flash and really using it off camera instead of mounting it on your camera.  One of the really cool things we did was mounted Dave’s Canon flash on a c-stand bounced into a Photoflex umbrella !   One of the benefits of mounting the flash to a c stand with the arm is that you can boom it out at any angle you want and of course you don’t end up with a photo that looks like you used harsh on camera flash.

We spent the whole day experimenting and just shooting, shooting and shooting.  I would observe Dave as he photographed the model and suggest different things to say to the model as he was shooting.  We had a nice lunch and ended up with great photos.  Dave is a great guy and learned so much.  Dave gave his testimonial however if there is something specific you would like to ask him about his three day workshop please don’t hesitate to email him.  His email is dave@daveclee.com and as always I encourage you to email or call me if you would like more information.

Had another great private photography workshop last weekend with a super nice guy who came allllllll the way out from Ottawa Canada !  He also signed up for three days not just the two days !

The first day of the workshop I went over portfolio set up, size of prints, how they should be organized etc.  I say “they” because you should have a portfolio for each one of your specialties.  Dave has only been shooting for 4 months and he is very good.  Aside from being creatively talented you must also know the business and how it works.  I explained contracts and what should be included.  We talked about how to get real models to shoot for your portfolio, how to direct them etc.  I also covered tax write offs and most important I taught him about usage !  USAGE USAGE USAGE !    Dave had no idea he should be charging usage fees.  So I really covered many areas on the business side that will increase his business sales.  I then prepped him for the shoot with the model on the second day.

Most photographers these days when they are just starting out will build an in home photography studio which is a great idea.  But many really don’t know how to go about it to make it practical and useful for everyone on the team, make up artist etc.  So instead of renting a studio we shot in my home studio.  We started the day with showing Dave how to direct a make up artist, what looks good with certain outfits.  My make up artist explained about the different foundations etc.  Dave gained a wealth of information seeing how I have set up my studio and how I have made it work for me.  So I shot the model first.  It was a great way for Dave to observe how I direct the model, what I say to the model, and basically how I conduct a fashion shoot.

So now you can see my in home studio.  Obviously for large commercial shoots I rent a very large photography studio in LA, but for workshops, head shots etc. you’re in home studio will work perfectly !

You can see that we used a two light set up.  That light that is facing Dave is for the flare.  And here is the final shot not retouched btw.  Dave did a great job and absorbed everything I taught him.  Stay tuned for the third day !

A buddy of mine took this photo of me. We were trying to photograph the dolphins. I was on my 100mm lens which was much too short.