Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

Ok so you’ve got a great idea for a fashion shoot and now all you need is a great location.  Or your client and you develop a concept for  the ad campaign or look book and you need a great location.  Easy enough right ?  Well if you hire a producer all you do as the photographer is sit back and let your producer find you a location.  However, when you are first starting out you aren’t getting gigs with budgets big enough to hire a producer.  So what to do ?  You get in your car and drive !

Every time I get in my car and go somewhere I am always looking around where ever I go.  Remember when I said photographers have eyes in the back of their heads ?  It’s true !  I carry a little point and shoot camera with me and if I see a place that I think is cool I snap a few pics and keep them in a folder on my computer titled “locations.”

Ok so that is the easy part. Now you have to get permission to shoot on the property.  When I say property I don’t exactly mean a house or a hotel or someplace recognizable, most of the time I am talking about a piece of land in the middle of no where!  Nowadays there isn’t one piece of empty land that isn’t owned by someone or some entity.  It sucks if you ask me.

This ever popular photo was shot in Palm Desert.   I made a few calls and found out the location is actually Riverside County.  So I called the office of Riverside and the kind woman faxed me the papers to obtain a permit.  I faxed those to my client and he took care of the rest.  The permit cost $400.  The price of permits vary from county to county.  The price also varies depending on how many people in your crew, if you are going to use an RV, if your are going to use a generator , if you are going to use fire…. blah blah blah. Now of course the permit is paid by your client NOT by you.  You MUST put that in your contract.

Another popular photo was shot at Sycamore Beach in Ventura County.  Now listen to this.  You’re gonna laugh.  The permit to shoot on the beach during the day is $65.  It goes up much more if you are shooting your look book or ad campaign at night.  A park ranger MUST be there at all times, so that is an extra cost.  The model was in at least ankle deep water so we had to hire a lifeguard !!!!!  HA HA HA !  California is in so much debt at this time, you will get charged for EVERY little thing.  We had a really large RV so that added to the cost.  So the total cost of the permit came to $1,200 !!!!!! WTF ? !!!!  Now obviously I don’t have to pay for this but that affects my fee, and everyone else involved with the shoot.  The client has a fit and suddenly everyone’s fee is questioned.  The solution ?  Get to know someone who lives on the beach so you don’t have to mess with all the bullshit.  That ranger and lifeguard had the easiest job that night they will ever have.  We started hair and make up at 7pm and started shooting at 8:30 and ended at 3:30am.  Ya fun friggin night.  Really glamourous, uh huh………

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.

I recently was hired to shoot for a clothing line up in this cool club called Elevate in Downtown LA.  Drew Maw a cinematographer is doing a documentary on me and made this incredible video with his Canon 7D !

Fashion Shoot For Gods Daughter Clothing from Jason Christopher on Vimeo.

Behind the scenes video shot by Drew Maw. This was a photo shoot for a new clothing line called Gods Daughter.

It’s finally here !   Behind the scenes of my fashion shoot with Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens !  It was a long ass day but well worth it.

Terrell Suggs Fashion Shoot Campaign from Jason Christopher on Vimeo.

Behind the scenes fashion shoot with Baltimore Ravens football star Terrell Suggs.

Terrell Suggs Fashion Shoot from Jason Christopher on Vimeo.

This is a behind the scenes video of a fashion photo shoot of Terrell Suggs who plays for the Baltimore Ravens photographed by Jason Christopher in Los Angeles California. The photo shoot is for Terrell’s charity Sickle Cell Anemia. Photos will be displayed at the fundraiser event in Baltimore Maryland from Sept. 11th – 13th.

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 !