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 !  

My recent fashion swimsuit photography shoot at the beach was amazing.  I happened to get my hands on some behind the scenes photos taken with a cheap point and shoot but they give you the idea.   Now when I say we had a 100 foot RV I didn’t measure it but as you can see it was damn long !  We had the art directors, model, make up and hair artists, crew etc. all fit in quite nicely.  When shooting on location where you know it will be uncomfortable for the models, your crew and everyone you really need to rent an RV.   A well fed and warm crew is a happy crew !  In one of the photos you see me standing there with a stand in while the model stayed warm in the RV.   Unfortunately no one took any photos of me shooting        LOL  the story of my life.

RV used for our night photo shoot

Art Directors for the photo shoot

fashion model getting her make up applied

When planning a photo shoot the art director and photographer will make a story board of each scene to be shot.  In this story board you see a photo of the location, the swimsuits that the model will wear and the accessories such as jewelry.  Everything is planned out days before the photo shoot so everyone knows exactly what is going to happen.  You end up with a photo shoot that runs smooth with hopefully very little problems.

storyboard for night swimwear photo shoot

Then when it comes time to set up the lighting you need to have a stand in.  A stand in is very helpful because you can get your light set up pretty close to perfect while the model is getting her make up changed and changing clothes.

Stand in used for setting up the lighting

Just remember the more prepared you are the smoother your photo shoot will go.  The end result is a very pleased client that will call you back for another photo shoot.  If you like this post and think other photographers or anyone else associated with the photography business would find this helpful please click on the share buttons

I will be teaching a 6 week workshop at The Julia Dean Photo Workshop in Los Angeles. Starting April 14th I will be teaching the Fashion Editorial Assignment. Dates and times are: April 14th – May 19th, Monday evenings – 7 – 10pm. First and last class sessions will be held at The Julia Dean location in Venice. All other classes will be held at BelleVarado Studios. This is a great opportunity to learn in 6 weeks what took me many years to learn. There will be actual photo shoots with agency models, make up and hair. Work on updating your portfolio and also very important, learn the business of being a fashion photographer. Learn how to cast, be your own art director, selecting and keeping a good team together. For more information and registration visit The Julia Dean Photo Workshop.