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Creating Dorothy- How Never Giving Up Can Result in Your Best Work

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Creating Dorothy- How Never Giving Up Can Result in Your Best Work

Ever feel like giving up photography? Do setbacks set you down permanently? Join Jason Lanier for a video where he perseveres through a setback to create some breathtaking work as he exemplifies the definition of never giving up.

This shoot was conducted in Belle Glades, Florida on the side of a road in a sugar cane field. This was an unplanned shoot that had to be created on the fly due to Jason and his team getting thrown out of their original shoot location. In this video Jason uses the Rotolight Titan X1 in flash mode with the Elinchrom Skyport Transmitter to create some movie like imagery with the models named Maddi and Nicole.

This was shot using the Sony A9 with the 35mm Sony Zeiss lens. Below are images taken at the shoot


**Links to Gear**

-Rotolight Titan X1- for the best deals on all Rotolight products please visit: www.rotolight.com/jasonoffers

-Sony A9- https://bhpho.to/35PyHQX​

-Sony Zeiss 35mm- https://bhpho.to/31XPakZ​

**Links to Social Media**

Photographer: Jason Lanier

*Website- www.jasonlanier.com

*Podcast- www.jasonlanier.com/podcast

*Instagram- www.instagram.com/jasonlanierphotography

*Facebook- www.facebook.com/groups/jasonlanierworkshops

*Twitter- www.twitter.com/jlanierphoto

**Models: Madison Ella and Nicole Taylor

*Instagram: www.instagram.com/madisoneellaa

www.instagram.com/nicole.tayylor

Crew: Anthony Schick, Gato Delix, Greg McCoy

www.instagram.com/anthonyschickphotography

www.instagram.com/gatodelix

www.instagram.com/gregselfaction

We thank you for watching and invite you to watch a few more videos while you're here. Don't forget to click on subscribe and notifications so you're updated every time a new video is released! Thanks! Jason Lanier Photography

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Jason Lanier 2020 Workshop Schedule

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Jason Lanier 2020 Workshop Schedule

Are you interested in attending a photography workshop? Join Jason Lanier as he hosts photography workshops across the world in 2020. Some locations include but are not limited to: Annapolis, MD; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Laguna Beach, CA; Las Vegas, NV; London, UK; Louisville, KY; Melbourne AU; Nashville, TN; New York, NY: Paris, FR; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh, NC; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO; Sydney, AU; Vancouver, BC; Venice IT - we hope to see you there! www.jasonlanier.com/register

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Senorita Mecanica- Shooting the Forgotten Sony Wide Angle Lens- the FE 28mm and Rotolight Neo 2 in Havana, Cuba by Jason Lanier

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Senorita Mecanica- Shooting the Forgotten Sony Wide Angle Lens- the FE 28mm and Rotolight Neo 2 in Havana, Cuba by Jason Lanier

Cuba is always an amazing experience. I’ve been there many times by myself, with my family and with two photography groups.

On my most recent trip there in 2019 we had the opportunity to shoot in a real mechanic’s garage in Havana. It all happened while we were walking down the street on our last day there as a group. We were heading towards the Feria which is the local shopping area for some souvenir shopping when we passed a garage with a 1951 Chevy inside that they were working on.

I walked inside and asked if we could shoot there in exchange for some dinero and they were very kind to oblige. Click the video below to watch the entire shoot!

So we continued down to the Feria, bought some wardrobe and accessories for Emily and returned with gear and a sense of creativity to do a shoot!

I planned on shooting with the Sony Zeiss 35mm f/1.4, but one of my workshop attendees named Sandy offered up her Sony FE 28mm f/2 lens, and I decided to give it a go!

This is a lens that I own and purchased 3 years ago. But for some reason I just never ended up using it. So when this opportunity to shoot with this lens came up I decided to go for it.

We pulled out 4 or 5 Rotolight Neo 2’s and lit this place UP! I did the shoot using the Sony A7Riii and ended up using the 28mm for the entire shoot. Below are the images taken:

**Links to Gear**

*Sony A7Riii-

*Sony FE 28mm f/2 lens

*Rotolight- for more information about Rotolight please visit www.jasonlanier.com/rotolight

A BIG thanks to Andrew Balerud for filming this shoot, Emily Holmes for helping with make up and lighting, and to my workshop attendees for joining me on this epic adventure. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support.

Lastly, PLEASE give a follow to Emily Rinaldo my amazing model and muse who always knocks it out of the park. You can find her at www.instagram.com/em.explores

Thanks!

Jason


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Blue Horizon- Shooting Urbex, Workshop, and Portrait Shoot in a Legendary Boxing Arena by Jason Lanier

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Blue Horizon- Shooting Urbex, Workshop, and Portrait Shoot in a Legendary Boxing Arena by Jason Lanier

WOW! To say that my experience at Blue Horizon Boxing Arena was epic is a true understatement. My protege Emily and I were in town for a workshop that we had planned in Philadelphia. Emily’s Urbex buddy John Hall @jhal10 reminded her of a place he’d been called the Blue Horizon. He told us that there was some sort of a secret way to get inside of there and that if we tried hard enough, we’d be able to find the man inside who could let us in.

To see the complete experience in 3 parts, Urban Exploration, shoot with a Workshop Group, and the portrait session of Emily, please watch the video by clicking below!

So we knocked on the door for about 10 minutes, patiently waiting until a man opened the door. After paying the man for the opportunity to shoot there, we proceeded to start to explore this magnificent structure that was built as a private estate back in the 1800’s and then converted into a legendary boxing arena in 1961.

One thing that Emily and I share is the love for Urban Exploration. We didn’t even know if anyone was even going to answer the door to this place let alone be able to to shoot there. But since we were in we set out to explore this place for as long as we could. Below are some of the images from the Urbex shoot shot with the Canon 11-24mm lens as well as the Sony 90mm macro.

The Blue Horizon has only been vacant since 2010, but the amount of wear and tear at this property is just insane. I love taking macro shots at Urbex locations because it can really tell the story of a place. It’s easy to get carried away with wide angle shots in urbex locations, but don’t forget the details too my friends.

We asked the man taking care of the place if we could bring a group back. We negotiated a price and then came back the following day with our workshop group. The joy in being able to bring other photographers, many of whom have never been in an urbex place like this before, is just incredibly rewarding. After some instruction they proceeded to map out their own places in the building where they wanted to shoot with the models we brought and then proceeded to shoot them with our guidance.

We wrapped up the session with a group shoot in the center ring. WOW! What an experience. We had two models named Mae and Lauren who played the part of warriors fighting in the middle of the ring. The real trick was trying to recreate the lighting that would have been present during a prize fight. We put a Rotolight on top of a boom on a C stand and illuminated the ladies as they put on a show of might. You HAVE to watch the video to see one of their epic battles stitched together in 156 frames shot at 20fps on the Sony A9. Below is just one of the stills:

DSC03609.jpg

Following our workshop group we reached out to our man on the inside once again and asked him if we could come back for one more shoot with just Emily and I. For the right price he agreed and we returned with two helpers for quite the shoot.

One of the things that made this shoot so awesome was that one of the helpers was a former boxer who actually fought at the Blue Horizon named Thomas Woods. He went 7-1 in his 8 bouts there and it was a thrill to have him accompany us for the shoot. He’s one of my followers and we actually ended up including him in the shoot playing the part of Emily’s trainer. Being that this was our third time at the Blue Horizon we knew some of the best spots to shoot at and using the Rotolight Anova Pro 2 we did an amazing shoot together. Below are some of the shots from the shoot:

What made this shoot so amazing was using the current technology of today to story tell. When you watch the video you’ll see how fun it was to get Emily and Thomas to act out scenes and for me to be able to capture them at 20FPS using LED lighting with Rotolight. It truly was an incredible experience.

I can’t thank my protege Emily enough for everything she did and continues to do to make this such a remarkable experience. This video really shows her depth not only as a model and assistant, but as a photographer as well. Below are some of her images taken at the Blue Horizon:

We can’t thank you enough for following us, supporting us, and giving your precious time to our efforts here at Jason Lanier Photography. The experience at the Blue Horizon was unforgettable and I’m so grateful to the workshop attendees who joined us as well as Erik Rosa and Clif Lowry for taking the time to volunteer and assist with what we did down there.

Don’t forget to click on subscribe and notifications so you’re updated every time we release a new video.

THANK YOU! We couldn’t do this without you.

Sincerely,

Jason and Emily

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Making it RAIN! Epic High Fashion Portraits in the Water using Off Camera Flash- 7 Foot Parabolic by Jason Lanier

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Making it RAIN! Epic High Fashion Portraits in the Water using Off Camera Flash- 7 Foot Parabolic by Jason Lanier

Any photographer who’s been shooting long enough outdoors has had his or her bouts of shooting in the rain. While it can certainly be challenging, it can also be very rewarding to give you some results that are different than what you create on a regular basis.

Well, there are some studios out there that actually offer rain INSIDE of a studio setting. What they do is set up pipes that pass water through with holes in them that drop water down into a studio setting that has the proper drainage and water collection set up to make it possible to shoot with rain indoors.

I recently did a shoot with my muse Emily (you can find her on IG at @em.explores), at FD Photo Studio in Los Angeles. The obvious benefit to shooting indoors vs. outdoors is the fact that it allows me to set up lighting in ways that would be very difficult or impossible to set up under normal rainy conditions.

Here are some of the pics from the shoot:


**Links to Gear:

*Rotolight Products- to get a 10% discount and FREE Shipping on any Rotolight products please visit: www.jasonlanier.com/rotolight to get the promo code now!

*Sony A7Riii- https://bhpho.to/2zu1lJu

*Sony Zeiss 35mm- https://bhpho.to/2IDrv28

*Sony Zeiss 50mm- https://bhpho.to/2FmytlK

*Matthews Scrim- https://bhpho.to/2IE2HH9

*Westcott 7 Foot Parabolic- https://bhpho.to/2ICi3vP

This was a very fun shoot done at FD Photo Studio in Los Angeles. This was shot using the Sony A7Riii with both the 35mm and 50mm Zeiss lenses.

Lighting was set up using the Rotolight Aeos inside of a 7 foot parablic umbrella with a Rotolight Anova Pro 2 used as a kicker light and another Rotolight Aeos used as a fill light.

The model is the beautiful Emily Rinaldo who can be followed by going to Instagram and following her @em.explores.

We hope you enjoy the shoot and invite you to stick around and watch a few more videos while you're here. Don't forget to click on SUBSCRIBE and NOTIFICATIONS so you're updated every time a new video is released!

Thanks,

Jason

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Shooting the Lightweight Beast- my shoot with the Sony 400mm f/2.8 G Master lens by Jason Lanier

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Shooting the Lightweight Beast- my shoot with the Sony 400mm f/2.8 G Master lens by Jason Lanier

I’m writing this blog in the early parts of December 2018. But once upon a time back in August of 2018, it was still VERY HOT. My Assistant Emily and I found ourselves in the middle of NOWHERE on the side of the road in Arizona. The temperature gauge inside of the car was telling us it was 115 degrees and boiling hot…but I digress.

Sony was gracious enough to lend me the 400mm f/2.8 lens for a few days for me to go out and test this thing. I already own the Canon 400mm f/2.8 so being able to play with this lens was a treat.

Questions abounded:

*If I already own a 400mm f/2.8, do I REALLY need to spend the amount of money as I would on a good used car to buy this lens?

*Is it really THAT much better than my Canon lens? I mean, this thing ain’t cheap.

So while driving down the road heading back to a cooler California, we saw this abandoned gas station and of course we HAD to go and shoot at it.

The first challenge was COMMUNICATION. I mean let’s face it, the 400mm wasn’t necessarily meant for doing portraits. BUT, I wanted a challenge rather than do the typical thing that most people do with this lens.

**Performance- From a performance perspective this lens hit all of the checkboxes. It focuses very sharp and very fast, has all the bells and whistles that you’d want on a premium lens and it is LIGHT! We weighed this thing and it was pretty much HALF of the weight of my Canon 400mm f/2.8. Why does that matter? Well, it actually makes the Sony 400mm f/2.8 the first lens in that range that can actually be used for handheld purposes. Why would you want to do that? Simple. It would be for the ability to be able to quickly change and shoot in areas like safari wildlife and sports. Having done both professionally in the NFL and in South Africa, I can attest to the fact that wielding a heavy lens and having to maneuver a monopod or tripod can mean missing some crucial shots.

Below are the images taken with the lens using the Sony A7Riii. The first three shots are with flash. The rest are without. If you’d like to see and know why check out the video above where the light takes a big FALL.

**VALUE- let’s not beat around the bush. This lens is EXPENSIVE. While it’s in the same stratosphere as it’s Nikon and Canon equivalents…all of these lenses are for the super pro who has a very particular need. So for pro wildlife and sports photographers who make their money shooting with the very best lenses this is a must have. For the average person out there the Sony 100-400 G Master is a great lens that is more versatile. The shots aren’t as special as they are coming out of the 400mm f/2.8, but they are very nice and the lens is about 25% the cost of the 400mm f/2.8. The other advantage of the 100-400mm is it is much more versatile for wider images which I did find very useful when I used it on safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa in July of this year.

A BIG thank you to Emily for braving the insane heat and giving me yet another epic performance. She is the BEST in every sense of the word. To follow her please visit www.instagram.com/em.explores today.

Please take a moment to let us know what you think by dropping a comment down below. Don’t forget to click on SUBSCRIBE AND NOTIFICATIONS so you’re updated every time we release a new video on Youtube. You can find our channel now by visiting www.youtube.com/jasonlanierpros. Please let me know what questions you have. If you have the money, this lens is phenomenal.

Thanks!

Jason

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The Shoot between Jason Lanier and Ken Wheeler the Angry Photographer using the Sony A9 and the Fuji GFX

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The Shoot between Jason Lanier and Ken Wheeler the Angry Photographer using the Sony A9 and the Fuji GFX

I gotta admit, this is a blog post I never thought I'd write.  I never thought I'd make two videos out of the experience, and I really didn't think any of this would come together....but I always hoped it would.

When I switched from Nikon to Sony it angered a good amount of people out there.  My chief and most vocal critic on the matter was Ken Wheeler, the Angry Photographer as he's known on Youtube.  You can go back and search for all the videos related to this subject that have been created over the last two years, but suffice it to say that me getting Ken to agree to shoot was not something many people out there saw happening.

I reached out to Ken while I was on the East Coast teaching workshops in Washington, DC and West Virginia.  Ken lives in Lexington, Kentucky so getting down to see him from West Virginia was feasible.  It required about $1000 in expenses, but I felt the opportunity was worth it to meet the man face to face that has railed against me and Sony for years now.

When I reached out to Ken he was very hospitable.  He accepted my offer to come down there and meet and seemed pretty excited about the prospect as well.  We agreed to meet at his local camera store in town called Murphy's Camera.  Don Baker and the team there were very welcoming and allowed us to shoot our first video together in the store.  This was filmed with no crew.  I set up 3 cameras on tripods and filmed it in 4K using the A9, A7Rii, and the A7Sii.  I felt that having no crew there would make Ken feel more comfortable since he wasn't using to having a crew watching him like I am.  Take a look below to view this initial conversation between the two of us:

This first meeting between us caught a lot of people off guard, most importantly some of our followers.  They really didn't see this meeting coming and were surprised we made it happen. The overall response however was very favorable.  Ken and I grabbed some dinner that night and then agreed to go out shooting together the following day.

We met up again at Murphy's Camera but this time we had a model and two volunteer assistants with us as well.  The two assistants are followers of mine who were local in the Kentucky area and agreed to come down and help out.  They aren't trained videographers but nevertheless they agreed to film Ken and I during out shoot.  You guys gotta understand, this all happened SO FAST.

I called up Ken a day before I was scheduled to leave West Virginia and then a day later I was in Kentucky.  There was no time to bring my crew that I normally travel with to this event.  The model that I had with me in West Virginia needed to go home, and my permanent videographer Jason Coccio was enjoying time off to attend a wedding in California.  So we made the best of it.

I was contacted by a local model named Tiffany Williamson who lived Knoxville, Tennessee and she agreed to come out for the shoot.  You can follow her at www.instagram.com/spacekittyxd. We agreed to terms and she then made the trip out to Kentucky for the shoot.

We left Murphy's Camera and went to the Kentucky Horse Park which is just gorgeous.  Below is the video created from our shoot together:

The video and the shoot are not intended to be a shootout, but rather a mutual shoot where we shared a great day together.  I think my favorite part was watching Ken get in trouble with the cops lol.  He really was initiated into my lifestyle as that always seems to happen to me as well.  Please take a few minutes to watch the video and you'll see two former rivals share a great day together.  Below are the images that we took at the Kentucky Horse Park:

For the shoot I used the Sony A9 with the 70-200 f/2.8 Sony G Master, using natural light only. Below are the images from the shoot:

Below are the images taken by Ken.  He used the Fuji GFX using flash and natural lighting:

For what it's worth, I'd encourage anyone watching this to focus on the coming together that this event facilitated vs. any rivalry that used to exist.  It took courage for Ken to agree to meet and to come out and shoot with me knowing the world would see everything we did.  I applaud him for these efforts and thank him for acting like a gentleman during our time together.

Thank you Ken.

Maybe more in the photography industry can do the same to come together.....:)

Thanks!

Jason

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Groom Getting Ready and Groom Portraits at a REAL Indian Wedding Workshop

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Groom Getting Ready and Groom Portraits at a REAL Indian Wedding Workshop

Many times so much emphasis at a wedding is placed upon the Bride.  While the Bride is certainly an extremely important person, we of course can't forget the groom right?  This shoot comes from my REAL Indian Wedding Workshop in Cherryhill, New Jersey with Akshar and Arti Patel.  In case you haven't seen Part 1 which includes my images taken of the bride Arti, you can find a link to them by clicking below:

http://www.jasonlanier.com/blog/real-indian-wedding-workshop-bride-getting-ready-at-the-crowne-plaza-cherry-hill-new-jersey

We went into the Groom's room and took the following shots that are included in the video as shown above.  It's important to capture the groom in a dignified and flattering manner which you can do by blending a style of photojournalism with light yet deliberate posing methods.  In other words, direct the shoot but don't overly pose the shoot.  Below are images taken of the Getting Ready portion:

After the getting ready portion we prepared for the First Look.  While waiting for the bride to arrive for the shoot I took a few minutes and did some groom portraits with Akshar as well.  All of these images were taken with lighting from the Rotolight Neo.  Below are the portraits of the groom taken at the ceremony site:

 

**Links to Gear:

*Sony A7Rii-  

*Sony 85mm G Master-  

*Sony Zeiss 35mm-  

*Rotolight Neo-  

Don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube Channel and my blog to get updated whenever we release new content!

Thanks,

Jason

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First Shoot with RAW files on the Sony A6500 with wild ocean seals in La Jolla, California

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First Shoot with RAW files on the Sony A6500 with wild ocean seals in La Jolla, California

I was very fortunate to be provided a loaner Sony A6500 from Sony for two days in late November.  The news came quick that I'd be able to use it so I called my Assistant Brenda asking her to organize a shoot as quickly as she could.

She organized a group of models and crew to meet down in La Jolla, California which is an absolutely beautiful area.  To be specific we went down to the area called the La Jolla Cove where not only is the coast line beautiful like many areas in Southern California, but you'll also be able to interact with some amazing wildlife.

So we went to set up the shoot on the rocks where the ocean meets the land and while setting up we were visited by an amazing seal.  The amazing creature came right out of the ocean, crawled up onto the rocks and started posing for me.  Now he didn't know he was posing....but he sure did a great job of letting me take his picture.

At the moment when he came up we weren't even fully set up and ready to shoot.  I'd just pulled the A6500 out of the box and had put in a card.  My mic was also not even tucked in but luckily it was on.  I told my videographer Jason Coccio to start rolling the minute I saw him.  So while my plans were to shoot a model for my first set with the A6500, it ended up being a beautiful seal.

Since I was planning on doing a model fashion shoot I had the Sony 85mm G Master on the camera, not a traditional wildlife lens.  But I decided to go with it and shoot the seal in a similar manner to how I'd shoot a model portrait session.  I could have easily stopped down and shot it at f/2,8 or even more narrow, but I accepted the challenge to shoot it wide open at f/1.4.

Navigating around slippery rocks wasn't the easiest thing to do with a loaner camera and a $2,000 portrait lens, but it did result in some pretty awesome shots.  The first thing I noticed was just how FAST the camera focuses.  People say it's the same sensor as the A6300, but all I know is it tracks and finds focus faster....which is saying a lot because the A6300 is already fast. The seal gave me the very unique opportunity to really test the tracking because a seals head moves up and down and side to side like a rocking boat.  It is NOT easy to track.  Luckily the A6500 did a great job of finding and keeping focus.

Below are some shots taken with the A6500 and the 85mm G Master:

I then quickly placed the Sony 90mm macro lens on my camera and tried to get some detail shots of the seal.  Again, focus was achieved very quickly which enabled me to get some great shots.  

Below are shots taken with the Sony A6500 and the 90mm macro lens

So after shooting for about 15 minutes with the seal, it became sick of doing a photoshoot and meandered up the rocks to join the other seals that were there.  It was a great shoot and we quickly moved on from it to shooting with the models.

My initial thoughts from my first shoot with the A6500 was that it performed remarkably well. The buffer in Raw was significantly better than any other Sony camera I've ever used.  The auto focus was faster and it responded well in so many ways.  I even filmed some footage of the seal with the camera and noticed the benefit of having the IBIS on the camera. 

Below are some links to gear if you'd like to add one of these to your gear bag.

*Sony A6500-  

*85mm G Master Lens-  

*90mm macro lens- 

Thanks!

Jason

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