Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

I am a true photographer, especially a fashion photographer.  How many of you can HONESTLY say this ?  Think really hard because I am willing to bet that the majority of this new breed of photographers who have never shot film have no clue what the basic fundamentals of photography are .  Now I know you are all out there calling me an asshole and every other name in the book but the proof is in the photos.

I spoke to a photographer today who has only been shooting for about a year.  He told me how much he loves digital. I asked him why.  Get ready to fall back in your seats because his answer made me cringe.  He told me he loves digital photography because he doesn’t know the basic fundamental lighting techniques and he just fixes his photos in Photoshop.  If he needs an extra light he just pops it in where he needs it.  I was so thrown back I couldn’t even gather my thoughts to say anything back. Think about what this person said.  It’s SAD and PATHETIC ! And I am so damn sick of it !  Don’t get me wrong, he is a friend and a good person but it’s guys like this that are hurting the business and hurting true professionals like me and many others.

So now we have the business of photography to be concerned with. If he doesn’t know the basic fundamentals of photography do you think he knows anything about how to run a photography business ?  Hell friggin no he doesn’t !

This brings me to my main reason for writing this post.   Just because we are now shooting digital, does not give you an excuse to lose your discipline which is exactly what has happened with everyone today !  With the advent of digital, photographers have gotten LAZY and don’t even know how to connect with their subject, which is what makes a great photograph.  Richard Avedon was amazing at this.   I highly suggest you all go out and get the DVD Richard Avedon – Darkness and Light by American Masters Productions.   What you will see is he used a Rolleiflex camera.  The Rollei as most call it for short is actually my favorite camera and it only cost me $250 used of course.  They aren’t made anymore.  The camera is medium format, 6×6 cm and can take 120 or 220 film. There is no meter in it, no electronics, no batteries, no auto focus and no zoom lens.  You must crank to advance to the next frame and to achieve focus you line up the diagonal line in the focus prism.  You must hold it very steady and to make it even more challenging the image you see when you look down is reversed !  So lets say you are using 120 film, you have only 12 chances to get the shot you need/ want.  That’s right you heard me, 12 chances ! That’s it !  You don’t get 1,000 chances.  So you must take your time with your subject and this gives you the opportunity to actually connect !  There’s none of this taking the shot, looking at it to see if you got your exposure correct  wile the model sits there thinking about what a moron you are.

Meet the Rolleiflex !  Click the image to make it larger.  I labeled all the elements for you.  I still shoot with this camera on tests to keep my chops up.  It slows me down, relaxes me which relaxes the model.  I have to think about the shot and if I REALLY want to push the shutter, which btw is almost silent.  What I find very ironic is this post really can apply to everyone in any business and even in family life.  We all need to slow down, think, then react.  We need to reconnect with each other and remember why the person you are photographing is so special.  Why is your wife so special when you come home and give her a kiss ?  When you put your kids to bed at night look at them, talk to them, cherish them. Slow down and tell them you love them.  Ask them if they are happy.  Tell them how happy you are.

You could ask the same questions, say the same things to your subject as they sit in front of you letting you inside their soul to see everything.  And because you took the time to really look at them, get to know them, they are going to give you all they have, just lke your wife and kids or girlfriend will give you more and appreciate you more.  Life is all connected.  It’s one big giant circle and everything is interrelated.  Trust me…… try this….. you can’t go wrong.

So who do you think got me to start shooting the Rollei ?  My mentor and great friend celebrity fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim. He has taught me what Avedon taught him, Demarchelier taught him.  The fact that I am following in the footsteps of some of the greatest photographers to ever grace this planet makes me feel so special and I thank the universe everyday for this.

Here is another view of the great Rolleiflex.  You can see the viewing lens and taking lens.  You can also see how to set the shutter speed and aperture.  Look at this camera and think about how much discipline a photographer has to have to use it.  Remember, newspaper photographers  used this, photo journalists who had to be able to get “the shot” !  PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  ! PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  ! PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  !  Please get this in your head and practice it.  You will be a better photographer as well as a better person.

Looking down into the Rolleiflex viewfinder you see the image is reversed.  Yes this is my living room.  The image is reversed  however, your thinking will become so clear and concise.  Your photographs will become breathtaking and you will leave your mark on this world when you leave it.  That is something I am very proud to say I have done many times and it is a feeling that you will always cherish just as you will cherish the memories of the subjects you photographed because you slowed down, stopped, listened, looked and then…….. you reacted.

I wanna hear your thoughts and experiences.

Ok so your  client tells you that you will be shooting their fashion look book or ad campaign on location and you naturally assume it will be an outdoor location.  Ahhhhh lest we forget that location also means indoors and not just in studio .  This photo shoot for my client’s look book was pretty cool.  It was inside club Elevate and even during the day it was pretty dark inside.   So I hit her with a key light with a 40 degree grid.  Behind the pebbled glass were two lights at full power.  Remember that I wanted to create a heavenly look and my vision was to have bright white light around her.

High Key Lighting

So here is an instance where I had to light on location but it was indoors.  Something about this picture to me is special.  Remember me telling everyone that you should never let that camera out of your hands as long as there is a model in front of your lens ?  Well while my assistants were tweaking the lights I kept my eye on the model.  She just happened to look down for whatever reason and just the way her arms were positioned and her legs and the way her hair fell I saw it and shot it.  I think it’s the best shot from that series.  No we can’t clearly see her face but that is ok.

Never forget, as a photographer we are creating a mood, a fantasy, a feeling. We do this so our client can sell their clothes.  It’s not always about the model’s face.  Keep your eyes on the model and your camera ready to shoot just like you would do if you were holding a gun in war !!  This photo btw is right out of my camera.  It hasn’t gone through post yet except for removing the metal seam connecting the glass panel that was going right through her body from head to toe and it looks great!

Get it right IN CAMERA !  My mentor and good friend celebrity fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim taught me this a long time ago.  Always be ready !  Photographers have eyes in the back of their head and we also notice EVERYTHING around us even when other people don’t think we can see what is going on on the other side of the set or in the make up room etc. but we do know.  Good photographers are good observers.  When I am at the store, in a restaurant, at my nephew’s football game, the bank… you get my point.  I am always observing.  Develop that quality and perfect it.  I guarantee you will gain by leaps and bounds in your photography.

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 recently learned something new in my fashion photography career, yes even at my stage of this business I am still learning.   I won’t say the client’s name however, I am really upset and also upset with myself.  Here is what happened.

I shot a very high profile person/celebrity and the shoot went great.  They had their own retoucher do post.   The contract covered everything so I thought.  I left out one phrase.  That phrase is :  Photographer shall receive all digital retouched files. I didn’t include this in the contract because I have never had to.  The clients always send me the retouched high res files without me even asking !  But what I learned this time was that every client is different and some don’t realize that it is common courtesy to give the photographer his retouched files.  Legally the client does not have to hand those over, however it has never ever been a problem.

So long story short I have been going back and forth with the client trying to work something out.  It’s not just me that needs those files, it’s my team, hair, make up, wardrobe and the models !  The bottom line is that in our business there are no set contract terms.  Everything is negotiable except for the fact that the photographer owns the rights to the photos.  Their reply was that I have the photos so why do I want the retouched photos ?  Well you would think that is a “duh” kind of answer however, they don’t see it that way.  Will I end up getting them ?  I don’t know, but I sure as hell am trying.

So I had no idea that my original post about photographer camaraderie would be so popular and with some individuals cause such a firestorm.  I am very thankful to all that have supported this way of thinking.  To those who disagree I would like to give some background to the impetus of my post.

I posted the photo of Jerry Avenaim and myself because Jerry was the photographer who helped, mentored and still does help me with anything I need related to photography including any issues I may have in my personal life.  Jerry is a world famous fashion celebrity photographer and is very approachable.  In that photo in the original post we are riding in the back of a limo because we BOTH worked a job out in Vegas that he got for me. The job required two shooters and Jerry called me.   We were on our way to the shoot location. He is a friend as well as a colleague that I respect and value immensely.  We have been friends for many years, we’ve had our up’s and downs just like any good friends do and over those years he has taught me to respect everyone and to pay it forward and that when you give you also get back tenfold.

When you attend one of his lectures like I have, he shares his values and his voyage of self discovery.  His story is very moving and got me thinking even more.  The bottom line is that yes we are photographers and sometimes our job is glamorous and fun but at the end of the day we are all human. We all put our pants on one leg at a time.  We all make mistakes.  As much as we think we can do it all alone, the fact is we can’t.  We need help just like no matter how old we are we still need our parents.

As photographers we all have a heart and it is that very fact that having a heart is what makes us good photographers.  My point and Jerry’s point is don’t just use your heart to advance your photography career, use it to be a better person, a more caring person and in the end you will be helping others as well as yourself.  And that way of thinking my friends is what helps me get through each day and keeps me going to make great photography and  great friends.

I was going over these photos of Michael Copon yesterday and my eye stopped on this one that I previously didn’t “see” when I first looked at them.   Sometimes it takes a little time away from your work to just let the photos be and come back to them.  You might be surprised at what you find !

The reason why I like this so much is because I caught him in a “moment” HIS own moment.  And that is what a great photo is all about, capturing a moment.

Celebrity actor Michael Copon in Los Angeles

This is celebrity Jane Seymour who lives in Los Angeles, California.  As a fashion photographer in Los Angeles I come across celebrities all the time.  Jane is a wonderful woman and photographing her is always fun and rewarding.