Photographing Soundgarden!!!

What more do I have to say?!? Growing up as a teenager during the 1980’s and early 90’s meant that I was the perfect age to appreciate all the angst and frustration that grunge music had to offer. And what bands best represented the grunge movement? Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden!
Why wouldn’t I get excited to shoot such an amazing band in concert for the Dallas Morning News? It was a blast, to say the least! I’ve photographed lead singer Chris Cornell a couple times before during his solo tours, and that was fun. However, nothing quite compares to seeing him perform with his grunge-era band mates.
Here’s a tear sheet with a couple of my pics printed in the paper. You should definitely go to the paper’s website and read Mario’s review, as I think he nailed the evening spot on…

Completely Random Pics…

What do these photos have in common? Not much. Sure, they were all taken by me and they were all taken in Dallas. It gets much harder to connect them, after that. I was digging through my photo files, and I decided to share a few shoots with you… just random stuff that’s fun to look at.


The first three images were from a Mayor’s Back To School Fair that I was hired to shoot PR pictures for. It was a great event that helped the community by providing school supplies and health services to needy families.

I don’t know what possessed me to shoot this discarded television, but the image caught my eye and I had to snap it!


These last two images are from a concert here in Dallas. The performer is the one and only Mos Def, who puts on quite a fine show!

Shooting Catalog Images, Texas Style…

Product photography is fun! Really?!? Really!

There are a ton of catalogs, both in print and online that are shot in Dallas. If you think about it, the North Texas area is headquarters to two major department stores several national retailer chains, and countless small/niche companies. There is a LOT of product to shoot here!
I recently worked on one giant retailer’s catalog. I won’t name the company on my blog, but hopefully you spend a few dollars there to keep them (and me) in business! I took a few pics during the shoot days with my iphone to give you a basic idea of what a catalog shoot involves. While looking at the pics, be sure to drool over the pretty Profoto packs and lights that are helping to make the magic happen!

This is a rack of outfits waiting to be steamed and pressed by the stylist, so it can be worn by a model and shot by me.
You can see a model on set, getting her hair fixed up, as another model waits off set near the stylist and stylist’s assistant. There are a lot of people on the set, including me, a photo assistant, an art director and a make-up artist.

Another shot of hair being done… hair is a major issue and requires a specialist on set.

This image shows a set of pics waiting to be looked at on the computer in Capture One. The art director will comb through roughly 30-50 images of each outfit and pick his/her favorite to be sent off to the post-processing department. Then, a whole new team of professionals will take over. It’s quite a process!
Here are a couple screen shots of some new maternity outfits that were produced. This will give you an example of how the final product is displayed for the customer. You may wonder why such a big production goes into taking one photo, but it’s actually pretty important. The image needs to accurately represent the product, since the customer can’t hold it in their hand, try it on and make an in-person decision. Those photos give the customer details to make a good, informed decision.

One reason why I’ve been asked to shoot product photography is my ability to capture motion, emotion, energy and excitement in my images. It’s not all that often that an editorial shooter crosses over to shooting product photography, but the need for that style of imagery is becoming more in demand every day by all sorts of clients that used to prefer much more conservative styles of photography.
If you like these pictures, you should also check out my main website at www.janikphoto.com

Photographing a Cheesy CEO…

No, this CEO wasn’t cheesy. In fact, he was very nice, sincere and hospitable. It’s a pun of sorts… a play on words. I recently photographed Scott McCallum, the CEO of a Dallas-based company for DCEO Magazine. I use the word “cheesy” to indicate our common connection – Wisconsin, land of cheese! Have you ever seen the cheese head foam hats that fans wear to Green Bay Packer’s football games? Have you ever had a bite of honest-to-goodness Wisconsin cheese? Yup, it’s a cheesy state, and I was born there!
Scott was the Governor of the great state of Wisconsin, and he now runs a company that handles logistics for aid relief. While shooting him for the magazine, we talked a bit about our time in WI – mine was rather short as a citizen, since my family moved to the Dallas area when I was four years old. However, it was still nice to discuss something we had in common, as it breaks the ice and allows for much more natural photos.