Branding Photography shoot in Pacific Grove SoundWorks recording studio with returning DJ client Jason Kushy
I am so grateful that as local DJ and music creator Jason Kushy has more and more success with the new EDM tracks he releases, he continues to choose me as his personal branding photographer. Our first shoot was just back in June, in my just opened photo studio in Pacific Grove, then our second shoot was out on the streets of Pacific Grove in September. Now the third shoot was in a Pacific Grove SoundWorks, a local recording studio. I had met the owner, Jermaine, of the recording studio shortly after he had opened it up about a year ago. He remembered me and was fantastic to work with helping both Jason and I in getting the most creative photos we could at the sound board in his studio. This was a true team effort with open sharing of ideas and resulting in another series of branding photos Jason will use on his Spotify channel and with the record label he newly signed with too! Thank you to Jermaine for a great location in his studio for this photo shoot, and to Jason for continuing to choose me as his photographer on his music journey! —Find Jason Kushy, DJ and producer, on Spotify
DJ Jason Kushy gets signed to a label returns for a second personal branding photo shoot in Pacific Grove California
Even before my photo studio here in Pacific Grove, California was even close to fully setup, local DJ and producer Jason Kushy contacted me about a branding photo shoot to help him launch his first tracks on Spotify and other music streaming platforms. It was a great shoot in studio and out on location. Since that time he has grown greatly in popularity and been able to sign with a label! So he wanted another branding photo shoot to have images to share with the label and this new, exciting phase in his music career. This time the shoot was entirely out on location in downtown Pacific Grove using a couple of spots I had scouted before, and then also improvising with a few more. The result in just an hour shoot was a fantastic variety of backgrounds, styles, and vibes for the photos we made. Big thanks to Felix for assisting with this shoot allowing me to focus on getting as many creative looks for Jason as I could. And of course, a very big thank you to Jason for continuing to choose me as his photographer as his music journey takes off!
In Studio and Out on the Street Branding Shoot for a Local DJ and Music Producer
For just my second shoot in the new photo studio in Pacific Grove, it was an evening personal branding photo shoot for local DJ and producer Jason Kushy (check out his music on Spotify and everywhere else). He was fine with the studio being in nowhere near final form and setup. He was also very excited and passionate about the shoot, which I appreciated. We started out in studio getting a series of photos of a certain look, before heading out into the early night onto Forest Ave right in the heart of downtown Pacific Grove for some light trail shots and street vibe images. As you can see below, Jason has already put the images from the shoot up on his Spotify profile. It was a great personal branding photo shoot and I look forward to working with Jason again on making more images for his music career! Thank you Jason for choosing me as your photographer and for the great 5-star review too!
Photographing the orchestra at Albuquerque Academy
Now having photographed two plays at Albuquerque Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I am excited about expanding into the area of theatre photography. The latest play I photographed was the final dress rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance (see those photos). Before the performance started, I had a chance to photograph the orchestra getting warmed up in the pit. I had free range to go anywhere in the auditorium, including the catwalk! Also, the lighting changed during the warmup from very bright to the actual dark light level that would be used when the play was being performed. The last photo was of all the musicians out of the bit and on the stage for a clear group photo. I look forward to photographing their next play and of course sharing those photos with you here on Jason Collin Photography.
Guitarist commercial promotional photography on St. Petersburg Florida beach - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame leftA shoot on Pass-a-Grille Beach a few years ago of a guitarist for his album cover and promotional materials remains one of my all-time favorites for several reasons. I edited quite a few shots from the shoot at the time, but thought now that over two years have passed, might I be able to find another shot I could add to my edited archives? (and also send the client a nice unexpected bonus shot) Going through the remaining photos I liked how the sun was just at the tip of the guitar and I thought by cropping a good amount off the top and bottom the focus can be put on that particular point in the image.
I did not do much editing to the shot, mostly actually just darkening the subject to make him standout against the bright sunsetsky background more. Go back to one of your favorite shoots and see if you cannot mine another gem or two out of it.
Country music singer Brett Eldredge performing in St. Petersburg Florida June 01 2012I cannot say I had heard of Brett Eldredge before since I am not a country music fan, but I had the opportunity to photography a live performance of his as part of a larger event. Even though he was playing for what must have been a very modest crowd for him, he gave a rousing and lively performance and I was impressed by his singing and the emotion he could conjure up on a hot, non-descript Florida afternoon.
Brett Eldredge giving it his all during his St. Petersburg performance playing original songs and a few crowd pleasing covers.The stage was setup in a parking lot which was essentially in a neighborhood. No stage lighting was used and the ambient light itself came from what was pretty flat late afternoon cloud cover, so no dynamic backlit concert performance shots were possible. I mostly used my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens to eliminate the undesired background and fill the frame as much as possible with Brett.
Brett Eldredge performing live for Ivy Ridge Living guests in St. Petersburg, FL on June 01 2012During and after the concert Brett was pretty popular with the ladies in attendance. He graciously stopped to take photos with each of them after the nearly hour-long set.
A grainy, holga, look is what guitarist Nathan (artist name Redd Sun) told me he wanted for the edited versions of the photographs I made for him during our commercial photography shoot on Pass-A-GrilleBeach. I kept that information in mind the whole time I was shooting, despite the setting sun providing a plethora of color in the wide Floridasky that evening. The grainy look is one of the things that interested me most about this shoot because 99% of the time when shooting on the beach vivid color shots are desired. I saw this as an opportunity to produce something different, something . . . simpler.
Commercial Photography for guitarist promotion - f/4 ISO 200 1/400th natural lightAfter seeing the results of this shoot, I may do an entire series of black & white beach shots. The holga effect was applied to the above photograph using the awesome Silver Efex Pro, which if you do not have it and you like black & white, then you need to get Silver Efex Pro immediately!
Commercial Photography for musician promotion - f/4 ISO 200 1/400th natural lightI centered the subject (Nathan) much more than I normally would during this shoot because I knew that type of composition best lent itself to the holga effect with its harsh vertical edge burning. This is why it is always very important to previsualize a shot, or a whole shoot even, before pressing the shutter.
