San Diego Photographer

If you have not seen it already then you have to check out our latest deal on Groupon.com! Groupon called me a few weeks ago talking about putting together a Groupon deal and I was slightly hesitant because I have heard mixed reviews. Regardless I decided to go ahead and go forward with it. All of the details of the Groupon can be found below. 

From Groupon:

A picture is worth a thousand words, making photographs and stick-figure sketches the easiest solutions to looming dissertation deadlines. Take advantage of efficient visual-communication strategies with today’s Groupon: for $69, you get a four-hour Learn Composition and Master Your Camera class and a two-hour photo tour fromThe Right Light Photography (a $200 value).

The Right Light Photography's instructors help students understand the full capabilities of their memory-preserving machines during the four-hour camera-mastery class. Amateur snappers will receive instruction on how to properly align shots and compose photographs using professional techniques. Then, teachers will reveal how to manipulate a camera's shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and white balance to ensure that photos develop clearly without being overexposed or filled with blurry Loch Ness monsters. After class, students will break for lunch and reconvene at the studio to utilize newly acquired skills along the San Diego harbor and throughout Little Italy.

Students must bring their own cameras, preferably DSLRs, as well as additional batteries and memory cards to ensure smile snatchers will have enough power and memory to last throughout the day. A pen and paper will also be helpful, allowing learners to take important notes or to sketch their subjects before photographing them. For information on parking and directions to the studio, students may consult The Right Light Photography's blog or video.

You can buy it here until tomorrow

With more classes being offered at the photography studio in Little Italy, known as Kettner Daylight Studio, I figured I would put together a diagram for those of you looking for parking in the area. The studio is absolutely amazing but parking is not always ideal This diagram walks you through the parking options but below you will see how they vary on different days of the week. You can also watch this video on how to find the studio in case you get lost after you park.

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to photograph an aspiring cartoonist. Robert was full of enthusiasm and was wonderful to work with. This was his first professional photoshoot and he did amazing for his first time. We hit a few bumps early on trying to get natural poses that didn't look so...posed. Once I got him to relax and completely shake off the unnatural posed looks we got some amazing shots that both of us were really proud of.

This was shot using natural daylight and then a flash to blowout the white background

This was taken with a 28" softbox at a 45 degree angle that you can see the catch light from off his sunglasses. I also had a white reflector to fill in the shadows on the right side. Then to separate him from the background I used a flash with a grid on the background to create that hotspot.

This was taken with natural light and just a white reflector directly in front of him.

San Diego Headshots

Here is the latest time lapse video from the most recent Photography 102 class. It is a brief video, but provides some quick insight onto what to expect from the photography class. Lots hands on training in this class makes all of the information easier to retain for when after the class you are going out and shooting.

Kathryn has a wonderful boyfriend. Her boyfriend called me about a month ago looking to give a headshot session to Kathryn as a gift. I put together a nice certificate for him to give to her on the special day and had Kathryn call me at her convenience to setup an appointment. When I met Kathryn she had come fully prepared for the shoot after reading my headshot preparation guide I give all my clients prior to a shoot. After having a consultation with Kathryn I learned that she is an aspiring actress and wants to see where acting can take her, We started off with shooting headshots with natural light through the windows in the studio. Once she was feeling confident in front of the camera we did some outfit changes, mixed up the shots and poses and ended up having a lot of fun. Below are few of the final images.

This past week I had the pleasure of working with Brigitt Reddy, a 13 year-old aspiring actress. Before the shoot began I got to know Brigitt and what her hobbies were and I was astonished at how active and productive she is for her age. She absolutely loves horse back riding and even has her own youtube channel for horseback riding.
Typically when i have worked with teenagers or children it is very difficult to break them out of their shell and to open up in front of the camera, but Brigitt was an exception to the rule. Within minutes she was a total natural posing for her headshots and portraits. It certainly helped having the natural daylight at the new photography studio in downtown San Diego. Using natural daylight in most of her shots allowed for us to get a variety of shots in such a short period of time. Below are just a few of the headshots and portraits we took that day.

I would like to take introduce Rodrigo Mendez, the newest addition to the TRL Team. Rodrigo is working as an independent contractor with extensive photo journalistic background. I have included his photo and bio below for your reference.

"Rodrigo has been a professional event photographer for the past 10 years shooting magazine editorials and photojournalism for both print and web media. He has extensive experience shooting for weekly and daily newspapers abroad as well as magazines throughout Southern California. He has also worked as an assignment photographer for some of the world's top news agencies.

Some of the organizations he has been contracted to shoot events for include: the Bravo Network, the Hard Rock Hotel, Herbalife, LiveNation, SiTv and FHM Magazine."

I am excited to have Rodrigo on board and look forward to the work he is going to produce.
San Diego Photographer

This is the latest video from the San Diego Photography Classes, more specifically it is from the Taking Better Photos Outdoors Class that I teach out in Presidio Park. In the video I used my Intervalometer feature in my Nikon D7000 to capture an image every 5 seconds and then turned all 1,444 photos from the 3 hour class into about less than a minute of footage. I apologize for the poor quality. The timelapse to video conversion is not the best. Regardless it should give an idea of the class and some of the photos taken by the students.

Hi Photographers in Training,

I am proud to say that the official Photographer In Training Program (PIT Program) is starting on March 26th with an introduction to what the program entails and it will be hosted in the new studio (check outpics of the new studio here). 

If you have ever wanted to become a professional photographer or have already begun your career the PIT Program will provide you the ultimate preparation to becoming a successful photographer. If you have any interest in becoming a professional photographer or learning more about what it takes to be a photographer for extra income or for full time then I recommend signing up for the Photographer In Training Program Introduction Class. It is only $10 and will inform you if you are ready to become a professional photographer and what it is going to take. The class should be about 2 hours and will have plenty of time for Q&A.

You can register for the class here

Some other great news is I have moved into a new studio space with over 3,700sqft. It is absolutely gorgeous and will become the new playground for the photography classes. It is located in Little Italy and you can check out photos of it here.

This has been a long time coming and I am really excited for all the great new classes and experiences I will be able to provide this year!

If you have any questions I am always accessible via phone or email.

-Jason

(619) 916-3330

Here are few photos of the new photography studio in Downtown San Diego off Kettner Blvd and Juniper. It is an absolutely gorgeous studio that allows for plenty of natural daylight and has a massive cyclorama wall. The building itself has house dozens of internationally acclaimed photographers and is over a 100 years old. I am so excited to be in this studio and can't wait for way to be using it all the time.