San Diego Portrait Photos | Jordan Cole
As a San Diego portrait photographer, I get visuals that enter my mind and need to be executed photographically. For this San Diego portrait photos | Jordan Cole, I had a vision of a mix of 70s, Beat Generation, greaser, mysterious Marlboro smoking man. My friend Jordan humored me and let me use him as my muse. A writer himself, I wanted to channel that into this vision I had for him in this shoot. Some of the photos were taken inside his apartment. The last part of the session we finished outdoors on his rooftop during blue hour.
It’s fun to come up with personal projects as a photographer. We can get into the continuous cycle of doing all the professional shoots. It’s important to step back and do something creative for our own sake. I don’t mean to say that we aren’t creative on our professional shoots. When we get to come up with our own creative then we feel like we have free rein during the shoot and during post production.
When you have found someone to be your inspiration, or muse rather, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are comfortable in front of the camera. Part of being a photographer is being able to connect with your subject and bring out a character inside of them. It could be their vulnerable side. Also, he or she can totally go through a metamorphosis, and become a character that they may fantasize about, but never actually act on.
When I edit photos, I feel my photos. I sit there and look at the photo and think about how this photo makes me feel. How I want my audience to feel when they see it. This helps me determine the mood I want to set for the photos and the coloring. Also, when a feeling is raw, it is helpful to convert it into a black and white photo. There is something isolating about a black and white photograph.
