of a Photoshoot

This is a lot of detail, if you just want the fun stuff then skip to the end watch the video and see the images. I won’t be offended!

The Idea is Born

Early February 2010

“Where do you get your ideas?” is probably the most common question I get, and the answer is… it depends.  In this particular case the idea was born over a turkey sandwich at Trolley Square Mall, I was meeting with Emily Edmunds (owner of The Hive Gallery) about a fashion photography hanging in June and we got to talking about her newly opened gallery and the plans she had in mind.  That’s when she mentioned doing a show about the artistry of cakes in April and she shared her dilemma with me, there would be cakes on display but you can’t really hang them on the walls… what do you put on the walls at a cake show?

To me the answer to this question couldn’t be easier, give me a whole bunch of cakes and I’ll have something to put on the walls.  With opening night almost a full 2 months away I figure I have plenty of time to plan something amazing.

Pre-shoot Planning

March 22nd – 23rd, 2010

I don’t like to think of myself as a procrastinator, but let’s face it, when you have a to-do list averaging 10 projects long things more than two weeks away tend to get pushed to the back of your mind. Then it’s less than one week away and you realize something, this project is in SERIOUS need of a promotion to the top of my to-do list!

First things first, I asked how many cakes I’d be getting to use. The answer? Nine cakes with a dozen decorative cupcakes. Had it been 1-3 cakes it would have been an easy one model shoot with a hairstylist and makeup artist…. but nine meant I’d get the opportunity to turn up the volume a bit, so-to-speak.

I decided I wanted six models and three separate styling teams (one person for makeup and one person for hair on each team) plus a fashion designer to provide the wardrobe.

That sounded just about right… even with just several days notice this shouldn’t be a problem at all – one of the advantages of knowing lots of talented people!  Even though I knew it wouldn’t be a problem it still takes a lot of coordination to get 12 talented people all in the same place at the same time.  Beyond the styling team and the models and the cakes I also needed a couple assistants and wanted a behind the scenes video, so of course I asked the amazing John Paul if he’d like to join us, which leads me to a funny story.

John Paul Is Unimpressed

When you are booking 15+ people for a shoot (in four days) it requires dozens and dozens of phone calls, text messages and emails.  It can get mind-boggling to get organized, especially with such a tight deadline, but for some strange reason I LOVE it!  The thing is everyone uses a different form of communication more regualarly, so I need to know that this certain model needs to be texted, I can email some of the stylists but if I need an immediate answer on availability then a phone call may be necessary.  In order to pull it off it means my descriptions of the shoot tend to be very brief, mainly just confirming availability and giving a general idea of the concept.  So I send a quick Facebook message to John Paul (who has made several behind-the-scenes videos for me), since I was online and thinking about it.

…the communication continued over instant chat…

John Paul: What is the shoot for?

Jake Garn: It’s for a gallery show in a couple weeks, they told me they could get a TV and show your behind the scenes video at the opening if you’d like!

John Paul: I’m not sure that would be very interesting to watch, just a video of people standing next to cakes?  Unless they just want a simple behind-the-scenes video, I don’t know…

Jake Garn: J.P. I don’t think you understand… I, Jake Garn, am doing a shoot with nine cakes, a dozen cupcakes and six models.  If you think those cakes are leaving the set in one piece then you are mistaken.

John Paul: I will be there.

Directing the Styling

March 23rd, 2010

I have an extraordinarily talented group of stylists I work with and we’ve worked together enough that I don’t need to discuss the exact details of the looks I want, generally I just need to give a starting point and let them run with it… that formula has made some amazing things happen!  I’ll give you all a sneak peek at the actual email I sent to the styling team while pre-planning the shoot (not all stylists had been confirmed quite yet).

Everyone is Booked!

March 24th, 2010

After dozens of phone calls, emails, and facebook messages everyone is booked.  Six models, three hairstylists, three makeup artists, three photo-assistants, one fashion designer, one videographer, all the cakes and the shoot location.  It’s at this point that I always send out a confirmation email with details and instructions for everyone, here is the actual email.  Notice it is sent just two days prior to the shooting date, when I say I work well under pressure I wasn’t kidding!  (also I still didn’t have the name of our final makeup artist)

Day of the Shoot

March 26th, 2010

I double checked google to make sure I had sent the right address, I had.  But then I had a thought, I double checked a business card at the reception desk and sure enough – the address in google was WRONG!  It wasn’t 1992 East, the actual location was 1992 west.  Everyone was 40 blocks away.  Crap.

About 45 minutes of phone calls later everyone is either on their way, or at, the correct location.  Man that was stressful, and really weird.  How does Google have an address wrong?

After that everyone gets to work!  Except for me, I don’t really need to do anything for a couple hours, so I go get pizza for everyone.  Oh, and if you think that the beautiful, thin girls I shoot are thin because they starve themselves then you’ve obviously never been to one of my shoots!  Five pizzas and an order of hot wings later the styling is getting close so I focus my attention on the light and backdrop setup.

The assistants have already unloaded and put together the lighting equipment and backdrop so I let them know which light modifiers I’m using and what the placement will be, then I start hassling the stylists about staying on schedule.  This would also be the time I gave direction or suggestions if I wanted something in the styling to look differently but on this occasion everything was looking perfectly whimsical!

Which means it was finally, almost time to shoot… and the shooting is better described without words:

Behind-the-scenes Video by John Paul

And it’s a Wrap!

Richard Hinton was the lucky winner of the Facebook Contest which means he won a print of his choice AND a blog post covering a topic of his choice!  What did he choose?  Well he wanted a behind the scenes look at the prepping, the shooting, and the wrap of a big production photoshoot.  Sir, your request is granted!

Video (shot and edited): John Paul Studios
Hair: Steven Robertson & Janae Mechling
Bodypaint: Brett Hamilton
Makeup: Paula J. Dahlberg
Wardrobe Styling: Michelle Boucher
Photographer: Jake Garn
Models: Carly Stark, Courtney Starr, Monica Mitchell, Natasha Dushku
Photography Assistant: Ryan Muirhead

Beauty Portrait

Showing a few simple techniques for retouching a beauty portrait in Adobe Photoshop.

Photography Blog

Lots of people seemed to enjoy reading my old photography blog, I had video tutorials, stories from my shoots, before and after images, tips and tricks, and sneak previews of new work… but the problem is I didn’t love my blog.  It didn’t look like my style, uploaded videos didn’t look nearly as good online as they did on my computer, image size and placement couldn’t really be controlled… I finally realized that I loved creating the content but I didn’t love figuring out the blogging technology.

That’s where my new blog and entire new website comes in!  I commissioned my long time friend Sterling Okura, a flourishing social media consultant, to create a new blog for me that would be easier to use, have better technology, and would visually integrate with my website.  Well, he went above and beyond by not only creating a better blogging platform using customized WordPress templates but also creating an entire site template that I can edit and change with extraordinary ease!  If that wasn’t enough he also integrated my carbonmade gallery into my website, so now updating galleries is extraordinarily easy!

So what does that mean for you, my loyal viewers?  Better blogs, better content, more frequently updated galleries, better everything!  My old blog will go by the wayside but I plan on reposting some of my most popular stories and tutorials here… keep in touch!

-Jake

PS – If you are interested in a similar setup for YOUR website feel free to contact Sterling at http://bizlift.com/ and tell him that I sent you!