All posts in “Blog”

Guatemala January 2011

Ten years ago I spent a little over a week traveling alone throughout the highlands of Guatemala and ever since have wanted to go back  with Mary Lynn. Early this year that opportunity finally arrived. So with some trepidation (she was bombarded with friends asking her “is it safe” in Guatemala) Mary Lynn came with me to visit my sister Carol and her husband Clate and spend some time with the Guatemalan people. Since living in Venezuela 40 years ago as a missionary I have felt very much at home in Latin America and have enjoyed traveling in Mexico, Central and South America. It has been the rural areas that have always been most interesting. I love their simple way of life that is so attached to their immediate surroundings, the ocean, the  land, and the wildlife. Although their lifestyle seems so difficult and underprivileged they are often the happiest people you could ever imagine. These men fish each morning and on a good day might make a couple of dollars. Some spend the rest of the day working in the fields for pennies. I had learned from previous experience that if all the stars align a very moody fog can form just before sunrise across Lake Atitlan. The first morning we were there I was up an hour before the sun but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. The next morning everything fell into place and I got into a boat with Manuel and slowly crossed the lake into the fog that seems to emphasis the solitude of the fishermen as well as their archaic manner of fishing.

Rhythm

Mary Lynn and I spent the last week in Utah with all of our kids and grandkids. Cold and lots of snow. These windmills sit at the mouth of a canyon and seem to get lost in the snow and clouds. Rhythm, whether found in nature or man made, has always fascinated me.

LA Auto Show 2010

The LA Auto Show has been open to the press for the last two days before it’s grand opening to the public tomorrow. Having grown up in the LA car culture and having credentials it was a natural for me to spend a few hours there this morning. Below are a few images of some of the cars that interested me.

The new Elantra as it was unveiled today.

The Equus will compete in the luxury car category and when comparing styling, features and price I imagine it will be very comptetitive!

Lot’s of talk about electric cars! Although this image is of a Honda it was the Chevy Volt that won green car of the year. With the good news at the car show and the successful IPO GM had a great day.

Where will headlights go next?

The last two images are of the new Jaguar C-X75 concept car. My favorite.

5:00 am at the flower mart

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One of my favorite things to do is to get up early and walk through the flower mart in downtown Los Angeles so last week I met Taylor down on Wall Street long before the sun came up and then came back to the studio and made a few images. The way the light falls on each pedal and the detail with which my H3D 39 captures it is always fascinating to me.

Huntington Beach

Mary Lynn and I spent most of the last week at the beach and while there I couldn’t resist shooting a touristy shot of the Huntington Beach pier. Whether it is in the studio where we create the light or on location where we work with what nature delivers, a good image is always all about  the light. No Photoshop manipulation in this image. It’s just being in the right place at the right time with the right light using the right focal length lens and making the right exposure.

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Harman Kardon SoundSticks

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It has been 10 years since Harman Kardon first introduced SoundSticks to the world, and the passage of time has proven the speakers’ quality, durability and popularity.  Not only are the speakers top sound performers, but when they’re not sitting on your desk, you can find them in the permanent collection in the New York City Museum of Modern Art.

Jerry 1

Jerry 2

To say that lighting a rounded, transparent plastic dome is a challenge would be an understatement. Photography is all about the light and how the subject reacts to that light. How much, what color, hard or soft, what shape and from what angle. I’ve always enjoyed creating new ways and techniques to light. Tungsten lights with fresnel lenses have been a staple in my studio for a couple of reasons. First, what you see is what you get unlike strobe. Second, they are much easier to control and shape than strobe or other lights without lenses, barn doors and snoots. My experience shooting Simpson racing helmets over 20 years ago came in handy with this project in that they were also round and extremely reflective.

Speedweek 2009 Bonneville

Since I was a kid I have read and dreamed about the Bonneville Salt Flats. It has been said that if you are a Buddhist you go to Tibet, but if you are a motorhead, you go to Bonneville. This August I finally made it!

No matter what you have read or seen you will not be prepared for what you will experience.  I arrived a little after 6 am, well before the sun was up, just as the glow on the horizon began to intensify. Once you leave the paved road and roll out onto the salt, you feel like you are in another world. The expanse and flatness, along with the history of racing, creates a sense of place that is beyond written description. Everyone should go to the salt flats at least once in your life to experience it for your self.

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This first image conveys my vision of Bonneville. A very old Indian motorcycle contrasted against the high tech helmet and leathers all set on the expansive white surface communicates what I felt.

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It can be blistering hot and waiting for the starter to give you the go ahead while wearing full leathers can be excruciating without some shade.

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Randy Speranza has been racing for 15 years at Bonneville. He, along with his father, and brother, have set nearly 30 records, 14 of which are still standing.

Nostalgia

Recently Tris Cannon, a friend of mine, bought a new Triumph Bonneville and dropped it off in front of my house with out warning. Seemingly a nice gesture! I’ll always believe he knew exactly what he was doing when he dropped off that bike. I now have an overwhelming desire to buy a motorcycle, one like I had in the early 70’s, a Triumph Bonneville. The upside is I felt a new inspiration to shoot which resulted in the image below.

Tris' Triumph

Tris’ Triumph

Me in 1971 with my Triumph Bonneville

Me in 1971 with my Triumph Bonneville

In 1971 I was in Da Nang and before I left to come home I bought the bike you see in the photo above sight unseen. A few days after I arrived home I went down to the port of Los Angeles and picked it up in the crate it had been shipped in from England. In those days there were no helmet laws and so I spent the summer racing up and down Pacific Coast Highway without a helmet, and occasionally no shoes and no shirt. Those were the days! Riding Tris’ bike has brought back some great memories.

Death Valley

I received an editorial  assignment to shoot a suit of armor representing the armor of God. Although the art director envisioned shooting in the studio I felt that there was greater potential on location. After driving most of the day we shot at dusk in the Badwater area of Death Valley. I had long wanted to explore the sand dunes nearby so the next morning we got up before the sun and hiked in a mile or two to be in position as the sun rose across the valley. A perfect time for light, shadow and textures. These images were made on a Hasselblad H3D-39 creating files with amazing depth and resolution.

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Capabilities – On Location

One of the great aspects of being a photographer is the opportunity to work on location. Shooting in the desert, on the beach or in the city brings a whole new set of challenges but when planned and executed professionally can be very rewarding. In this digital age of photoshop many might say that there is no longer a  reason to go on location. It could be argued that these days you can shoot the product in the studio and photoshop it into a stock location shot. The following set of images have been posted for two reasons. One is to give a look behind the scenes to show what it takes to pull off a location shoot. The second is to show that sometimes there are important nuances in the image that can only happen while shooting on location. Scouting the location in advance to determine camera angle, time of day, the setting of the sun (always carry a compass) and other logistics is a must. Then contracting for the right equipment and crew is critical. The crane was used to avoid walking on the sand to maintain the natural textures created by the wind. The most interesting detail of the picture was created by leaving the door in position for a few hours before the shoot to allow the wind to shape the sand around the door. You can see the “waves” in the sand much like current created in water as it passes by a tree in a river.

 


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The next 3 shots are taken from a series of 5 images we made for the MTA to introduce a new line of buses. The logistics of tying up traffic and maneuvering a bus thorugh city streets did not seem worth the time and expense so we shot the bus in the MTA yard at the same time of day that we shot the background assuring that they would feel harmonious as they were composed in Photoshop.

 

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Professional Photographer in Spanish Fork, Utah

Commercial, Lifestyle, Product, and Car Photography

Jerry Garns is a professional commercial photographer with decades of experience shooting in traditional and digital mediums. Some of our areas of expertise include product photography, portrait photography, lifestyle photography, and automotive photography. To quote Jerry "The driving force in my business is my love for the process of discovery. Producing new images continually provides opportunities for me to develop a new vision, a deeper understanding and a more meaningful way of relating to the world around me."

Spanish Fork, Utah Photographer - Lifestyle, Editorial, Advertising

Product, Cosmetic, Fragrance, Electronics, and Makeup Photography

Having established his business in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, after graduating from Art Center College of Design, Jerry has spent more than three decades developing himself as one of the most experienced and well-respected product photographers in Los Angeles, Californa. Jerry speaks Spanish and has worked and traveled throughout Mexico, Spain, Central America and South America shooting all types of advertising and commercial work from automotive: including cars, trucks, suv's, rv's - in the studio and on location - to still life, product, business and corporate portraits, annual reports, lifestyle, architecture, and more.

Lifestyle, Editorial, Portrait Photographer

Utah Lifestyle and People Photography Studio

His clients include Honda, Acura, Nissan, Infinity, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Disney, Pioneer Electronics, Samsung, Olympus Camera, East West Bank, Boeing, Motor Trend Magazine, UCLA, United Healthcare, Vizio, UCI, and countless others. Please take time to review portfolio pages that show off Jerry's exceptional photographic abilities, particularly in the areas of automotive photography, product photography, lifestyle people photography, and architectural photography.

Utah Professional Photographer

Spanish Fork Photography

Lifestyle Photography