My studio? The Streets are my studio...
By Christopher Desantis
15 May 2008
I get lots of comments about my photography. People often think my shoots cost a lot more than they do or they think my shots are part of a larger editorial campaign... but they are wrong. I don't have a formal studio and as a photographer/director I get a large number of models and actors who are interested in shooting with me but are usually confused when I tell them I don't have a studio and that I usually have no idea where we are going to shoot until that day. This is all because the streets are my studio and as a one man crew, I am a gaffer, director and cinematographer all in one.
The sessions often begin with a phone call that leads to me picking the model up in my truck and driving around Los Angeles looking for interesting places to shoot. Usually I am a sucker for golden hour lighting (the light that you get about an hour before and after sunset) but most of the time busy schedules and the infamous Los Angeles traffic can't accommodate perfect lighting conditions, so we begin looking for interesting locations where I can control the light. Shadows from the buildings often suffice and provide a good dusting of ambient lighting from which I can begin directing the mood of the scene. Once I find a location with a decent amount of base lighting I typically break out my hand strobe to fill in the shadows and adjust the F-Stop and exposure to suit the mood. One of the tricks I especially enjoy is to aim the flash off center to brush the subject with a glancing light versus hitting them with the full flood. It tends to add mood and atmosphere to the image.
Every photo you see here was taken in a downtown urban environment that was openly accessible from public areas. The trick is to spot locations that, from the right angle, can look more expensive and add production value to the shoot. The bamboo forest behind the girl in green was actually the open area in the middle of a downtown parking garage. The grassy area around the man with the tie was outside an industrial apartment building by Venice Beach. The same goes for both the red wall (which was an abandoned set of lockers we found in an alley) and the table and chairs where there was a place for workers from a nearby Chinese restaurant to take a smoke break. By controlling the lighting conditions I am able to take all of those everyday street locations to a new level and dramatic sense of purpose.
Other times I find that the city itself provides a source for inspiration. Take the clubbing imagery in the shot of the man with the braids standing in front of the pipes. I think the vignetting and the two large wheels give this shot a sense of a DJ's turntables at a nightclub without going for the obvious idea of him scratching on them. I also try to keep my images clean where the city becomes the backdrop but without the hustle and bustle of the busy streets. Most of the time this requires a lot of patience to wait for every pedestrian and car to exit the shot. One of the shots that best captures this mood is the Chinatown photo of the girl with the umbrella. I find the emptiness of the street gives the image a surreal calmness which implies a much lager world exists outside the frame but never imposes itself upon the subject.
Sometimes the streets can even give you surprise or two. It was about a year ago when I was shooting the girl in the mod dress in Los Angeles' Japantown. We worked our way though the district until we reached the top of a parking garage right around golden hour. However we were unaware that Michael Bay was filming the Transformer's movie in downtown Los Angeles that evening and as soon as the sun began to set, a number of enormous pyrotechnic fireballs and explosions began rising up from the city. Unfortunately we were too far from downtown for them to show up in the photographs but it was definitely a fantastic surprise.
So the next time you are walking down the street looking for inspiration don't forget to step off the sidewalk and peek down an alley or two, you'll be surprised at where inspiration can strike.
Christopher Desantis is a commercial director and photographer currently living and working in Los Angeles. For more of his work feel free to check out www.christopherdesantis.com & www.christopherdesantis.blogspot.com
