Magazine Shoot …My first offical gig!

My boss Peter D. gave me my first official job in the studio. A magazine article needed professional shots of two young country singers. Peter scheduled me as the photographer and his studio manager, Ian, as my tech. It was a little awkward at first because they are both my bosses!

Well, I got over that little hump. It was time to be professional. Ian helped me set up a 10-foot white seamless near the window so we could shoot natural light. My weapon of choice was the Cannon 5D with a 50mm lens tethered to a dual screen Mac Pro. Oh yeah, whipping out the big guns! Then the big question came up from the producer: “So how are we going to shoot this?” That was a big reality check. You know those Twix commercials when an interesting situation comes up and the world pauses so you can think and eat a Twix? Well, this was NOT one of those moments. Out of nowhere I blurted out all these different ideas: bust out the cowboy hats, the guitars, the plaid shirts, and lets get shooting. I pose them all over the white seamless. I can do this! I did some creative shots with a super wide angle lens to distort the picture in a creative way.

Time to switch outfits and background. Oh yeah, forgot to mention we had about 5 different sets in the studio for a good variety. The next set was my favorite; it was a textured gray concrete wall in the studio. Everyone that shoots in the studio loves this wall; it has a great look to it and it can be used for almost anything!

After they changed into another outfit, I had them posed leaning against the wall, standing a little in front of the wall, and sitting against the wall. The wide angle lens works perfect for this; I can make the wall look endless like an alley or like the corner of a recording studio. Every shot I thought was a good shot.

So, we move on through the day with three more sets. We got what we wanted and wrapped up around 5pm. I thought it was over, well it was over for them, but not for Ian and me. We sat at the computer for 4 hours editing down pictures and filing them into folders so it was easier to edit. We didn’t finish. We had about 2000 pictures and got them down to about 700, but we still only needed 10 pictures for the article. It took us about 2 more days to finish the editing. We finally had our 10 pictures edited and ready to be sent out.

It was a great experience to run my own paid shoot. I felt important like everyone was depending on me to get the job done, which was the case! I learned that I didn’t have to take so many pictures of the same thing. It only makes it harder later during the editing.

I will have pictures posted from this shoot soon!

Jewish Wedding with Scott A. Nelson

Working with Scott Nelson was an interesting experience. I say this because I am so used to working with the same wedding photographer. I almost forgot that there were other ones out there. After sending Scott an introduction letter and a couple follow up emails, I received an email from him asking me if I wanted to meet him at his office in Newport Beach. It was a nice office and it also doubles as a show room for clients.

It was a long conversation, then in the end, I was the one doing the talking, mostly about what I have been up to as far as working at the L.A. Lofts and working with other wedding photographers. Then, the million dollar question: “Would you like to assist me in a wedding this Saturday?” I said, “No I am not interested.” Duh!!! Of course I said yes. He agreed to pay me $250 for assisting in the wedding on Saturday. That definitely put a smile on my face. He filled me in on the details: a Jewish wedding at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. The ceremony was in the courtyard and the reception was in the ballroom.

We started off with the bride getting ready in the hotel room and shot some pictures of her in front of the window getting ready with her mom. And some of the groom getting ready next door. It isn’t a tradition in Jewish culture for the bride and groom to not see each other before the ceremony, but we still didn’t want them to see each other until the bride and groom shots were ready to be taken. It’s an interesting method; when they both see each other for the first time there is a certain reaction that you can not capture twice.

When we were done shooting them getting ready, it was time for portraits. We took the bride and groom seperately, and Scott and I put their backs to each other and let them turn around. The biggest smiles, the biggest hugs, and the longest kisses, we were able to capture it all thanks to 5 frames per second. After that, Scott told me that we were going to shoot them by the fountain in the courtyard. This was my time to shine. I knew the venue from when I assisted the magazine shoot with Patrick Dempsey, so I told Scott I had a better place to go. I pointed out the fountain in the front entrance. Scott loved the spot, the bride and groom loved the spot, and Jared scored some major points!!!

It was time to sign the Ketubah: a tradition that all the parents from both sides gather with the bride and groom to sign this circular piece of paper that will Jewishly bind them together. Scott and I took lots of pictures in there! After that, it was time for the ceremony. We shot every angle and every person that was crying. Time for the reception. This part felt like it lasted the longest. I turned into a human tripod with a flash attached to me. 45 degree angles, 90 degree angles, standing behind people to make a silhouette out of them.

Overall, the wedding went smoothly, the workflow was really easy to get used to, and Scott enjoyed working with me, so everyone was happy!

Here is the link to the wedding slideshow of pictures.

Model Shoot with Afterdarc.net

This was one of my amateur photo shoots. You have the hot girl, the music, the videographer, the lighting, and of course me: the photographer. This was a test shoot for me to experiment with lighting techniques, practice posing a model, and pretend that I know what I am doing. In the end, I was pretty successful.

I set up a 12-foot wide, black seamless and rolled it out 30 feet. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, a really big backdrop basically! The other sets I had were the gray textured concrete wall, a white wall, an imitation of a VIP booth, and the hardwood floor. Those were the sets we used for the day. My weapon of choice was Nikon D70 with a 12-24mm wide-angle lens tethered to a dual screen MacBook. My lighting other than natural light was a Pro 7a pack and a Pro 7a head attached to a big Elenchrome (looks like a softbox but isn’t) which creates a warm and smooth skin tone to anyone that’s in front of it.

I hired a videographer to document this event because I wanted a sample of the shooting I do at the L.A. Lofts in Hollywood. The video turned out great thanks to Hypnotic Films.

Here is the video from the shoot:

more about “Model Shoot with Afterdarc.net“, posted with vodpod

Here were my final shots:

Mellow Wedding Assisting for Dan Pettus

So far, this was the most laid back wedding I have ever been to. It was not a traditional wedding. The bride and groom did not hide from each other, in fact, they got ready in the same room, which was easy for us since we didn’t have to coordinate times when we could take turns shooting outside. I also didn’t have to run all over the place with equipment, so we were able to take care of all the candids and the pictures of them getting ready in a 30 minutes. After we shot every possible angle, we hung around for a little bit. Then, as soon as we heard that the cake and the tables were set up, I ran and took care of shooting that. I did my usual fish-eye lens and then my 12-24mm wide angle.

After finishing up in the party room, the ceremony started. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that all the groomsmen were wearing Vans skate shoes and white socks with their tuxedos. That was a big clue that they really were laid back and just wanted to be comfortable! The cool thing was that they were all matching with their clip-on ties and their fake one-sided vests.

We shot the bride and groom walking down the aisle together with their family following behind them. The ceremony went on for about 20 minutes and it felt like it would never end. The only reason I felt that way was because usually I would be shooting the cake and the party room, but I had already done that. So, I had to make myself look busy. I grabbed one of the cameras and started shooting away. After the ceremony ended , it was time to shoot the family and friends with the bride and groom. Because we were a little bit ahead of schedule, we were able to spend more time with this part. Instead of focusing more on family and friends portraits, we shot everything required, and spent more time on the bride and groom portraits. Dan, the other photographer, and I took them to a dozen different places on the grounds and shot every spot that looked perfect. Then sent them off to the reception.

With this crowd, anyone was allowed to give a speech after the family spoke. That went on while people were eating, which meant we didn’t get to eat. (If your reading this blog to gather good ideas for shooting a wedding here is a good one EAT before you get to any wedding just in case this happens!)

We had to shoot anyone that spoke so that we didn’t miss anything. After the speeches were over and everyone was mostly done, the bride and groom had their first dance, then the DJ announced it was time for the Money Dance (anyone that wanted to dance with the bride and groom had to pay 5 or more dollars). I have never seen one of those before; it was interesting to watch. Being that there was nothing else going on after that, we had the “ok” to leave which was good because IN & OUT Burger doesn’t close until 11pm in Temecula and it was a little after 10pm, so I was stoked! We packed all the stuff into the equipment car and another successful day assisting at a wedding!