Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

Hello everyone !  Let me start by apologizing for not posting for such a long time.  I took time off to go on vacation, visit relatives and refresh the old motor lol.  Now I am back !

I recently had the pleasure of shooting a great beauty campaign for Cala Beauty Care Products.   I got the call from an advertising agency, sent them a quote, signed my contract and the planning began.  They wanted everything shot on a white background.  So I gathered my crew, booked the studio and had a great shoot.

You will see that the model was beautiful.  We actually had two models.  What was interesting about this shoot was that I had beautiful models but the focus was on the products.  For instance in this shot as sexy as it is, my client wanted to show the cool silver looking acrylic nails she was wearing.

The wardrobe stylist matched the sexy booty shorts with that shiny silver color as well as the high heels.  So as we see everything matters in a photo, even down to the shoes and shorts the model is wearing.  To light the already white background my assistant used two Profoto heads on each side of the set mounted with medium sized white umbrellas.  My key light was a white beauty dish.  We put up white V- flats on both sides of the model to reflect some edge on to her.

The team was actually pretty large.  I had two manicurists, one hair stylist, two make up artists and a wardrobe stylist.  The owner of the company was there giving direction to the woman who hired me from the ad agency who acted as art director.  You would think that with that many people things could get crazy, but everyone knew their place and did their job as expected.   As photographers we still need to remember that we are in charge of EVERYONE.   I have eyes in the back of my head too.  I am always aware of everything going on around me.  Occasionally I will check on the make up and hair, manicurists etc. just to make sure the boat is sailing smoothly.  Ok so check out some other images.

And this is how a couple of the photos were used.  The client printed 8 foot posters to display at their booth for a cosmetic convention in Las Vegas. I took a shot of the set for you guys.  That is my assistant Ryan.  Any questions or comments please shout away !  

high fashion lingerie photo shoot

This is a recent fashion lingerie advertisement that just came out.  Notice I posted this in the photography lighting on location section.  We shot this at the Bissell  house in Pasadena California.  Originally when the designer and I scouted the location we planned  the whole lighting scheme a certain way referenced from tear sheets she pulled from various magazines.  So I went over all the details with my assistants days before and brought all the gear we needed based on the ORIGINAL lighting design.

So we get to the location on the morning of the shoot and the designer decides she wants a TOTALLY different lighting design than what we had originally planned.  Well of course this is where your photography fundamentals come in and you better know your fundamentals otherwise you will never advance in this business.  I pulled my assistants aside and we discussed the changes that needed to be made in order to please the client.  Remember this:  at the end of the day pleasing your client is what will get you the call again for another shoot.

Long story short we made it happen and it didn’t take long to figure it all out.  Notice I placed this post in the lighting on location because it is on location and not just a studio where everything is controlled.  You have ambient light to deal with coming from windows and the sun is moving throughout the day.

Now in response to Stikman’s comment, yes you can go wrong even though you have great models.  Models are just objects to hang the clothes on to make the clothes look great.  Well if you don’t know how to light your models wearing the clothes, the designer will not be able to sell their clothes to buyers.  Buyers want to buy clothes, not models 

PRIVATE FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS

• Two day  private workshop one on one with Jason Christopher.
• Learn at your own pace.  I will tailor your workshop to your needs.
• Each day will include a model and make up artist.
• You will learn MY lighting techniques and styles that apply to fashion advertising photography and  editorial photography.
• You will learn how to direct a model and take control of  YOUR shoot.
• One day in studio lighting and one day outdoor location lighting.
• Hands on experience by actually shooting the model and you take home hi res images on a DVD !
• Learn how to get models from agencies, marketing yourself and business tips such as usage for your images, how to use contracts and negotiate.

Book your two day workshop now for $2,000.00 For your convenience you can use Pay Pal to reserve your workshop for $250.00

PH: 818-889-9559 EMAIL: jason@jasonchristopher.com  Please call with any questions or email me direct.

beauty photo lighting set up

Beauty photo from photography workshop

UPDATE: My private photography workshops are going strong !   A wonderful woman Sofia, came all the way up from Mexico.  She is more of a portrait photographer but also wanted to learn a little bit of fashion so we shot in studio and outdoors.  I took her to the Peter Strauss Ranch in Agoura Hills.  Instead of lugging a bunch of lighting gear out there she wanted to learn how to use an on camera flash.  When we first start out we don’t always have the resources of getting an assistant.  So for this shot we mounted her flash on a light stand.  I also mounted a 3 foot by 2 foot white board to the stand and bounced the flash into the board. So we ended up with a nice soft light that didn’t look like harsh on camera flash.  The stand was about 4 feet away off camera left and about 4 feet away from the model. This photo has NOT been edited, it is right out of the camera.

fashion model for photography workshops

This next photo is of Sofia shooting Olga the fashion model.  Sofia was shooting with Nikon gear and her on camera flash with a Stofen cover on the flash head.  We all had a great time and Sofia learned many new techniques that she will implement into her shooting without having to spend a fortune on gear and also Sofia learned that shooting alone without an assistant is VERY possible.

UPDATE : !   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 !

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.