Aly Rae By Castaneda Pictures

Aly Rae calls herself a “retired One Boob Badass”, as she bravely overcame overcame breast cancer. Photographer Nairie Tarakchian from Castaneda Pictures and her team were inspired by Aly’s story and dedicated this photo shoot to her.

Few words about the Photographer:

“My name is Nairie Tarakchian and I am the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Castaneda Pictures. Ryan Castaneda is the Founder, Photographer and Retoucher of Castaneda Pictures. We are so incredibly grateful to have the accessibility to use your studio!”

This session’s crew comprised of:

model: Aly Rae @alyraeeee

photographer: castanedaPictures.com

At the location:

Campaign For Designer Cyril Verdavainne

Soft and dramatic lighting was a great choice of photographer Van Khai Truong and the team to showcase new look-book pieces of a talented designer Cyril Verdavainne.

A quick excerpt from the designer’s bio:

“Cyril Verdavainne has made a career as a fashion designer and a fashion illustrator. Often compared to master illustrator Rene Gruau, his work has appeared in magazines and newspapers nationwide. He was Born in Casablanca, Morocco, on April 27th 1978. FRANCE He studied the history of arts in the South of France where he graduated from College with honors. The young man is 19 years old when the Galerie Vecchio in Cannes starts commissioning paintings and sculptures from him. LONDON It is in London, after studying all pictorial aspects of creation, from Photography to Textiles and Interior Architecture, that the artist decides to dedicate his talents to fashion exclusively. NEW YORK 12 years later, and with the help of Amy O’Connor , Vice President of Saks Direct at Saks Fifth Avenue, Cyril launches his first evening wear line in 2006. By then, his illustrations have been seen on the cover of WWD and were commissioned by the likes of Katie Couric, used by famous fellow Designers such as Carmen Marc valvo, TV shows or internet global media companies such as AOL for advertising and promotional purpose. In 2018, Cyril relaunched his semi-couture line of gowns and cocktail dresses, using updated silhouettes and fabrications, and focusing on luxurious details and finishes.”

This session’s crew comprised of:

Designer: @cyrilverdavainneofficial

Photographer: @vanktr (www.vankhaitruong.com)

Makeup: @calidaartistry

Hair: @mideyahparkerhair

models: @severinekeimig & @olgavorosilova

At the location:

The stage:

NYC Studio 7 also known as moroccan style stage, offers few unique features: conveniently installed by the window in our New York Studio 7 this shower setup opens up possibilities for your photography that were “drying up” before! As with any our other stages a standard package of three basic backdrops and three lights is available within the stage already. For more information visit NY Studio 7 on our website.

Leah Jana’s Website Update

Leah Jana, a professional stylist who has visited our Art 1 studio for this fun session. This shoot was to get professional photos for her website and also for flyers for future classes she will be offering to other stylists.

About the stylist:

Ever since burning the hair out of my doll head at 12 years old (don’t worry I’ve improved since then!), Ive loved styling hair. At the age of 20 I graduated from Fullerton Colleges nationally ranked cosmetology program.

Follow:

Leah Jana

Www.leahjana.com
Instagram.com/ Leah.jana

Photo: @shotbysham
MUA: @ziomara

The stage:

Stage Art 1 was a choice of location for this session. Adorned with features like white grand piano and three step podium this stage is a tool of versatility, provider of great natural light, benchmark of industrial Downtown minimalistic design. This space has its windows facing South and West and gets beautiful direct light during the PM hours, and great open-shaded light in the morning. Using strobes? No worries, we include 3 strobe lights in the hourly rate along with black, white and grey background available. Take a look at Stage Art 1 HERE to see what equipment is included in the hourly rate, as well as its availability and pricing.

Creative photography by William Royster IV

These dramatic, cinematic, and well-pronounced photos were taken by a photographer William Royster IV. Here is his take on what photography should be about.

I just want to be able to tell you a story where people look at my portraits and each individual comes up. With their own interpretation of what my image is saying. Art that speaks is worth listening to.

Follow:

Photographer William Royster IV @Notebookportraits

About the stage:

Stage D is one of the most spacious and most affordable spaces we currently offer. Suitable for both large and small production teams, this stage is on always on a high demand. Lighting conditions are of supreme quality. If working with natural light, towards the sunset the studio gets plenty of great, warm light through large south-west facing frosted windows. There are three strobe lights always available within the stage. Have a look at our calendar for availability, prices and contacts on our WEBSITE.

Dance Photography By Shelly Xu

Alexandra Pullen, known as “Healthy Ballerina” visited our “Exposed Brick” New York Studio 3 to strike a few gracious poses against rustic studio’s interior. Captured by photographer Shelly Xu, these photographs are light, bright and beautiful.

About the shoot:

“The lighting was such a dream and the props around the studio were really helpful to stay creative with poses. Dance photography can be tricky because you don’t want the photos to look too “posey,” but capturing authentic movement is logistically so difficult. Luckily Shelly is super talented and has a background in dance, so she has a great eye for it! I felt really inspired by the natural light but slightly grungy NYC feel. The props around the studio were helpful to keep things interesting! ”

Members of the crew:

photographer: Shelly Xu @someshellyphotography | someshelly.com

model: @healthy_ballerina | www.healthyballerina.com

The stage:

NY Studio 3 also known as “exposed brick” studio is one of our brightest stages at New York campus. With additionally embellished exposed brick and concrete walls, this stage is perfect for a rustic, industrial look. As with any our other stages a standard package of three basic backdrops and three lights is available within the stage already. For more information visit NY Studio 3 on our website.

Become Better Photographer: Do you need to sell printed products as a photographer? with Vanessa Joy

*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with Vanessa on Instagram @VanessaJoy

Are you selling albums to your clients? According to famous photographer Vanessa Joy from Adorama TV album sales are not only great course of additional income but also an essential part of a complete photography service.

According to Vanessa Joy: “if you’re not selling wedding albums… I honestly think that you are not completing your job as a photographer. Your job is to be a storyteller from start to finish, and part of telling that story is finding a way to document that story in a tangible form, so that later your client can sit down with their friends, family, kids, grandkids and recount the story of their wedding day… When I sit down with my clients, it’s not a sale session, it is me trying to help them create a final product that they’re going to love and cherish…”

“I will be honest… yes I do make more money by selling albums… because I do sell more pages than their original package but it’s all part of the service that I’m offering them. They don’t have to buy anything additional… but they usually do, because they enjoy the story the way I show them it can be laid out… The first thing that you want to do with albums is …. You need to pre design.”

“Now I know that sounds like a sales tactic and you are going to design it bigger than the album that they have… but hear me out, if you’re doing wedding albums you already know that if your clients are picking the pictures they are taking for ever… and you have clients that it’s been a year, two years, three years from their wedding, and they still don’t have their album, and that’s your fault, because you don’t have a process for creating that album that is painless and convenient for you. When I first started, I would let my clients pick their wedding pictures and it was disastrous…. they didn’t know what to pick… they would never pick any details, they didn’t know how to tell a story with images. Now I have a designer that works with me, so I’m outsourcing this, she picks all the pictures that tells the story best. I don’t even tell her how many, you know pages they already have in their package towards their albums. I just say tell this story best even if they cut out and delete all the pages that we added in to tell more of the story… the images that are there are better laid out… They’re better laid out, better chosen. We go over all of their pages one by one either in my studio or via video chat.”

“As we’re going through them I use keywords. I reference pictures and moments of the day with vocabulary that I know is about their relationship style. If they’re taking pictures out I’m not gonna use kind words like remove or take away I’m going to say what it actually is .. delete -you want me to delete these pictures ….because while they do get a USB and all the digital files they’re never gonna look at them. Your goal is to finish that album design during the album session, it’s usually a two or three hour session… yes I know that seems like a lot, but you know it’s a lot more two three years later, when your clients still haven’t ordered their album, and you lose money that way, so take the time sit down with them. Don’t do those emails back and forth… because then are just sending you a list of changes. You can make the changes right there in front of them.”

“I use on the Alpha Designer… it’s amazing, it’s fast they just see the page… I make changes and they see an update on their screen. In addition they’re also understanding what it’s like to make changes, and they started seeing what looks good, what doesn’t look good and their changes are less because of it.”

“And then finally create packages that make sense for your clients, my clients a lot of people in Manhattan… a lot of people in North Jersey… they don’t have a lot of wall space, so i’m not selling huge 35-40 metal prints or anything like that. By the way, don’t think that you have to stop when you have maxed out the number of pages that can go into the albums. I’ve been doing two volume albums all year… it’s been great! My job is to guide them towards whatever story they want to tell and however they can tell it, with whatever budget that they have. “

Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!

Watch the full episode with Vanessa Joy and Adorama TV:

Become Better Photographer: Medium Format vs DSLR: Ask David Bergman

*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV and YT episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com

Why would you use a medium format camera over a normal DSLR medium format cameras? Renowned photographer David Bergman is back on AdoramaTV with the new show called “Ask David Bergman”. In this episode Mr. Bergman discusses pros and cons of using medium format camera vs DSLR.

Mr. Bergman shares: “If you have a camera that has a sensor that’s 24 x 36, that’s considered full-frame. Anything with a bigger sensor or film than that is going to be considered medium format.. so this camera for example, everything on this camera is modular. So I can take off this back, this is a digital back, I can take off the finder at the top. I can take off the lens…”

“This is a film back, and you can see on this film back that’s the size of the film… I’ve got it covered up because obviously the film would be exposed, but this is 60 x 60 centimeters a lot bigger than 30. 24 x 36, that is the size of the film. Now I wish they made a digital back that was that size.Unfortunately they don’t, but what I have on here is an old Leaf Aptus 65 … it’s 33 x 44 so it’s cropped in a little bit from the 6×6 that this camera can normally shoot, but these things are very very old… “

“People have been shooting medium format for a long time… this digital back is 15 years old.. the camera is about 50 years old.. right? They’ve been making Hasselblad’s since the 60’s…probably earlier than that, but that’s when they really became popular, and well-known, any commercial photographer worth their salt was shooting medium format in the studio back in the day. Now what are the advantages of shooting medium format? Well traditionally we always said that a bigger sensor size had more dynamic range, and more resolution, much better sort of.. noise in the shadows, and because of the bigger sensor it was able to collect more light from the same scene on that sensor, and just handled it much much better. The thing is now in today’s world, it’s really not that much of a difference anymore. The modern DSLR cameras the Canon 5DSR or 5DS for example is 50 megapixels, so that’s the same size as a lot of popular medium format digital backs…”

“And as far as dynamic range, it’s vastly improved now on full frame cameras. So it’s really not so much of an issue but why would you shoot one of these? Well really at the end of the day, it’s just a lot of fun! This camera like I said it’s very old, everything’s manual on this camera, there’s no light meter in here, there’s no autofocus, it doesn’t shoot video, it doesn’t do any of that.”

“So for example when I’m out here today with Erica who looks lovely. What I have to do with a camera like this is I have to slow down. I really have to take my time and compose the image carefully. It’s impossible to make a bad picture of Erica, but it really makes me take my time. So I’m looking down here in this viewfinder. The first thing I have to do is actually I have to use a little magnifier, so that I can focus my image because I have to manually focus everything.”

“Now she’s in focus, now exposure wise I have to figure out my exposure..not through the camera… there’s no auto exposure, there’s nothing. So I either have to use a light meter, an external light meter, or there are apps you can use on your phone that’ll get you close. Because I’m shooting a digital back, I’ve already shot a few frames, so I kind of know what my exposure is already. But I had to take the time to do that, and then when I’m actually shooting I feel like a French fashion photographer.”

“So really at the end of the day… is medium format for everybody? No absolutely not. It is a niche product. Most photographers will never have a need to shoot this. For me.. personally I just love it, I.. there’s a look to it, the depth of field is different, because of the crop factor you actually have to get in closer with the same focal length, so it changes the depth of field. Now it’s not gonna replace my Canons? There’s no way. I’m still using that for all my daily shooting the stuff I’m getting paid for – the real jobs, but it’s super fun to come out here.”

Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!

Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV:

Lena Ashikhmina By Megan O’Brien

Working alongside the A-team of industry professionals photographer Megan O’Brien has captured beauty of Lena Ashikhmina in plain natural light. Shot in “Wood Corner” stage Art 4.

Few words about the Photographer:

“My name is Megan O’Brien, and I’m a Photo Art/Creative Director and work mainly with fashion retail clients, coming from the photo dept at GAP Inc, and Fashion Editorial team at ebay I’ve remained true to working with many top tier classic American brands like Levi’s, Ariat, etc. My biggest client at the moment is Ariat Interantional, pioneering the way in Women’s Western Fashion and Equestrian apparel & shoes. ”

Check out participants of the project:

Megan O’Brien (Creative Director/Producer)

Megan is a California based Art/Creative Director who leads creative content, video, and image production for fashion, apparel, beauty and wellness brands. She also consults companies on building out creative departments and redesigning production processes.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/obrienmeganla/

Portfolio: http://megananneobrien.squarespace.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obrienmegan/

Frank Gaglione (Photographer)

Frank Gaglione is a San Francisco based photographer who’s specialties include Lifestyle, Fashion & Environmental Portrait Photography. He has been working in the studio and on location for 20+ years.

https://www.frankgaglione.com/

Lindsey Di Ruscio (Stylist)

Lindsey is a California based fashion stylist, specializing in on-figure and laydown photo styling. She is represented by LuLu Artists Collective.

https://www.lindseydiruscio.com/

https://www.luluartistscollective.com/lindsey-di-ruscio

https://www.instagram.com/lindsey_di_ruscio/?hl=en

Lena Ashikhmina (LA Models)

michellec@lamodels.com

https://www.instagram.com/ashikhmina/

https://www.instagram.com/lamodels/

Tara Thompson (Hair & Make-up Artist)

Tara Thompsonis based in Los Angeles, CA and provides personalized, professional makeup & hair styling services. She has experience with editorial (beauty & fashion/portrait/lifestyle/ecomm), celebrity portrait, portrait, commercial/video, corporate video/headshot, and headshot shoots. Tara is known for being dependable, hardworking, punctual and having a positive attitude. She strives to keep the atmosphere fun and relaxed for clients – making it memorable for all.

https://www.tarathompsonartistry.com/

At the location:

Stage Art 4, used for this shoot, is notorious for the high-key white industrial design. It has also been recently adorned with wooden floor section and a wall veneer as well as portable blinds, made of dark wood slats. The latest upgrade the stage received was a nice looking cozy egg like chair and a STAR illuminating across its shape! As any of our stages, Art 4 comes equipped with 3 strobe lights and modifiers as well as backdrop paper of black, white and grey color. Take a look at Stage Art 4 HERE for its availability and pricing!

Dmitry Bocharov’s Long Exposure Craftsmanship

Dmitry Bocharov is one of our most prolific and creative photographers, who specializes in commercial photography. This shoot is yet another proof of his mastery, realized in long exposure shots.

A snippet of Photographer’s story:

“Dmitry Bocharov is the Los Angeles based photographer and director who actively works in the US, Europe and Russia. Member of a Guild of Advertising photographers. FEP certificate professional photographer in Europe. His works have been published in magazines as GQ, ELLE, INSTYLE, VOGUE and many others. Dmitry works with the leading European and American brands. He collaborated with such brands as Wrigley, Garnier, Avon, Nike, Adidas, Vans, Asics and others.”

Members of the crew:

photographer: Dmitry Bocharov

The stage:

Pro Stage I features a large seamless white cyc wall, as well as standard photo backdrops of black, white and grey color, and studio lighting for stills. Make sure to catch the perks of the space with your photo and video cameras and book with us NOW. A few recent cool additions were introduced to the stage such as a red wall section and a silver lounge chair.