Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

Recently I shot a catalog or sometimes called a look book. A designer will call me asking me to shoot their new creations.  Normally if everything on the designer end goes smoothly, I will shoot two seasons ahead.  So this shoot which is for Simply Mimi,  we shot this in August of 2010.  The collection is Spring 2011.  The time table isn’t always exact but everyone does their best to get the designs manufactured in time for the shoot.  This will give the designer enough time to design the catalog / look book, send it out to her buyers and ship her orders to the various stores in time for the season they were meant for.  Trust me, it NEVER runs that smooth and on time lol.

So this is a small sample of what I shot.  Now let me explain something to you guys.  You might be saying to yourselves that it looks really boring.   Well, it is  !  Shooting look books is boring UNLESS it is a look book for Gucci etc.  You get my drift I’m sure.  However, the bare bones fact is that I would rather be shooting than sitting in a cubicle all day answering a phone or working the drive through window.  ” Welcome to Kentucky Fried Chicken may I take your order please?” as I spit my gum out that I’ve had in my mouth for the past 8 hours !

Catalog / look book shooting is easy, quick and you make a pretty penny for a days work or two.  Do I put all my catalog work up on my site ?  Heeeelllllll no !

I show my artistic side and creative side on my site.  IF the look book is cool enough then I will put it up on my site.

So what is involved in shooting a catalog / look book ?  As you can see the lighting is all the same.  You MUST bring out the texture of the clothes and show them well.  This is not about being fancy and artistic with your lighting with dark shadows and moods.  These look books are for buyers of major department stores and they want to see the garments they are investing in.  Sometimes I will also shoot a lifestyle shot or two or three etc. to go along with the look book if the client asks.

So there ya go.  One of my recent catalog / look books.  Hit me up with any questions you have.  Trust me, I haven’t included every detail in this post because I am trying to get you all to think about what else is involved and ask me questions so we can get some interaction going 

Here we have from left to right; fashion model, designer, Jason Christopher- photographer and a fashion model.

A photographer friend of mine recently came to me very frustrated.  He is very good at shooting lifestyle, commercial, weddings and let’s call it commercial fashion.  On his website he had all these sections up.  He asked for my advice and opinion on what I thought.  I told him to narrow down to two – three categories of photography that you really love.  Don’t think about how much they pay, or how much they don’t pay, just shoot what you love.

I told him this is something we all go through in the beginning of our careers.  He was concerned and insecure because he doesn’t know what he loves the most.  Eventually I told him you will know what you love the most.  It took me three years to finally know in my heart that I love shooting fashion and beauty.  But not just fashion and beauty, fashion and beauty advertising.  It all works out.  When we first start shooting, we literally have to get to know ourselves again, but this time we have to get to know ourselves as a creative.  We go through growing pains, emotional let downs, the highs and the lows.  Trust me, every single photographer out there who is working has gone through this process.  It’s a friggin roller coaster and you know what ?  It sucks !  It really does.  I mean come on, can you really say in your heart that you loved your teen years as a kid ?  Hell no ! But eventually we grow up, well MOST of us do lol.  And we find our way.  The path opens up right before our inner eyes and heart.  Sometimes it takes a road trip all by yourself and just shoot.  Shoot whatever you think is cool, beautiful, weird or whatever !  Just shoot !  Take at least three days and just drive.  No destination in mind, no preconceived notions.  Just drive and stop when you want to and shoot.  If it’s a stupid cactus or a stupid wood fence and you think they look cool, shoot them !  Take your digital camera but also take a film camera.  Yes that’s right a film camera.  It’s time to grow up !  I can guarantee that when you return from your little trip, you will feel totally different.  Will you have found yourself ? I don’t know.  But if you don’t, take another road trip.

The voyage of self discovery is something that every creative goes through and listen to this, you will go through ANOTHER voyage of self discovery again in your career and probably another time too !  That’s ok though.  As creatives we don’t ever want to get stuck in a rut.  We feel stale and useless.  I will mention my very good close friend and celebrity fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim who coined the phrase voyage of self discovery.  He had his own voyage of self discovery early in his photography career.   To this day he still goes through discoveries here and there.  I do, my other colleagues do, actors do, you name it.  If you are a creative you will always continue to develop.

The reason I am talking about this is that as photographers you MUST shoot what you love.  If through your own voyage of self discovery you find that you have changed, then go with it.  Never forget this though; clients will hire you because they love your style.  It could be your lighting style, the way you pose your models, the emotion you evoke from your models or it could be that they don’t even know.  All they do know is that when they look at your portfolio, it grabs them and never lets go !  And that is the photographer they want to shoot their next campaign, look book, catalog or whatever.  Your passion for what you shoot does show in the photo.  The photo that you produce is in some way an extension of you !  Yes !  It’s true !

So as I leave you with these words of wisdom, don’t make growing up complicated.  Trust your own gut.  I will be 41 Dec. 6th and I can tell you that my guy has NEVER ONCE been wrong, NEVER !

I want to know your thoughts on this.  I want to hear all your voyages of self discovery.

This photo by the way was one of my first photos I ever shot with a real model.  It isn’t really fashion but it is by far the most popular photo I have ever taken.  It is a photo that gets me very much work because you FEEL when you look at it !

Beautiful Ballerina

I thought I would share these with you guys.  There aren’t many shots of me in front of the lens.  This was a shoot for a lingerie company.  We shot at the Bissell house in Pasadena.  The former owners were the Bissell’s of the vacum cleaner company !  It is now a bed and breakfast.

thinking about the shot

setting up the shot

Shooting on a ladder

And this would be one of the final images used in the campaign.

Fashion lingerie campaign by Jason Christopher of Los Angeles

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.