Page 32 - Amateur Photographer - August 5, 2017

Jason Lanier
Jason Lanier is an Guiding
LA-based wedding and
portrait photographer
with an international
following. He has over
400 videos on his
YouTube channel.
To find out more visit
his website at
jasonlanier.com. light

ny portrait
photographer who
says they only shoot
‘A in natural light is
basically lazy.’ So says Jason Lanier,
the straight-talking Californian
people photographer and social- There is virtually no natural light
media sensation.
We’re in a park just outside that can’t be improved upon, says
Windsor, with fi ve models and
around 30 pro, semi-pro and pro portrait photographer
aspiring pro photographers. They
have travelled from all over Europe Jason Lanier
to attend a workshop organised by
British lighting innovator Rotolight,
for whom he is an ambassador. He
is also a Sony Alpha ambassador.
Anyone who says you can’t make a
living through social media clearly
hasn’t met Jason, whose videos have
given him a huge YouTube following
and means he fi lls his workshops
wherever he goes in the world.
Bluntness is clearly part of his
appeal to his followers, which is just
as well because there’s a lot more
where that came from.

Being better
‘Too many photographers are lazy.
They choose the laziest ways to light
and the laziest ways to shoot and
then wonder why they can’t make a
living. The thing is, we live in an age
when everybody owns a camera and
everybody can get decent shots, so
you have to be better.
You shoot a wedding and there’s
200 people there with smartphones.
You may not realise it, but they are
your competition. If the couple can
have their friends send them all
their pictures of the day for free, © JASON LANIER
which people do these days, why
would they hire you? If your
pictures are not markedly better
you won’t have a job.’ KIT LIST ▲ Sony Alpha 9
So how do you make your pictures
better? By offering something camera and 7R II bodies
phone users can’t compete with. ‘Mirrorless cameras are the
‘What can you do at a wedding future,’ says Jason. ‘When I
that the guests can’t? Posing, right? switched to Sony three years
If you know how to fl atter the ago industry friends laughed
bride’s fi gure, and make them look at me, but Sony is overtaking
better, that’s a big advantage Nikon now. They offer so many
over the guy sitting on the edge advantages over DSLRs.’

32 5 August 2017 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113