JAY P: Hey Maria! It's Jay P.
MARIA: Hey Jay P! I heard you were doing a shoot today,
so I figured I'd get a behind the scenes scoop. Do you have time for 21 questions?
Absolutely! I'm probably in the noisiest part of Los Angeles you can be in.
Got people coming off the freeway. [Jay P. laughs]
But we chose this location because we're looking back at the Capitol Records building,
and we want to be able to see that.
She's in a great 60s outfit.
And so, that's where we're at. Sorry about the sound!
MARIA: No worries! So what are you shooting today?
So we're sharing some film comparisons.
We're looking at a 645 Contax versus the 645 Pentax.
So we're really shooting film today and looking at that great soft film.
We've got Chandra here. She's in an excellent 60s outfit.
We're looking at that old Capitol Records building.
And we're gonna do a comparison with these two cameras. So, it's just a fun shoot today.
We'll shoot some digital too, just because we're gonna cheat just a little bit.
Make sure we got some digital images as well.
MARIA: Okay, I have to get this question out of the way:
Do you ever get confused for the JP Morgan, the bank?
People confuse me with JP Morgan the back [inaudible] You know what?
Chandra, why don't you-- Let's get her hair looked at
Come on out, so you don't have to stand here while I do this.
But do I get confused with the bank? All the time!
It's a funny thing. We should get calls at the studio going
"Hey! Do you have any room in your financial department? I'm an accountant."
And I'm going, "We don't even know how to do accounting here. We don't know any of that stuff."
So yeah, I get that often but just a funny thing.
People don't forget my name usually!
But it's "Jay P." versus "JP."
It is interesting, when I went to rent a car once,
the lady said "Oh, you're JP Morgan!"
I said, "Yeah, I'm you know..."
She goes, "You're renting an economy car!"
I said, "Well yeah, you know, that's 'cause it's cheap!"
She goes "That's pretty amazing for a man with your wealth!"
I'm going "No no, I'm not THE JP Morgan--" She goes,
"We understand, Mr. Morgan"
"We'll get that economy car for you!"
I'm going, "Okay whatever makes you happy!"
[Both laugh]
MARIA: So, has quarantine affected your workflow at all? How are you adapting?
Quarantine's been really a problem for us. We've kind of done a lot of things inside.
We're just barely now getting out. Los Angeles County just opened up so we could be out shooting again.
And so, we are out and about, but we try to come out here early.
We were coming out--on some of the camera comparisons we did--
We're coming out at like 4:00 in the morning to catch sunrise
and to be able to shoot and get out before people came.
But yeah, it's just now opening up a little bit.
Production has opened up in LA County, finally, but just on a very limited level.
MARIA: So, what got you started in photography?
Wow, what got me started in photography...
You know, my father was a photographer for National Geographic.
Not on purpose! He worked for the Idaho Fish and Game,
and he started taking pictures a bighorn sheep out in the wild.
And pretty soon he had some pretty amazing bighorn sheep images.
And so, Geographic. He sent them to Geographic. They said, "Wow, these are amazing!"
"Buy a tripod, shoot some more and send us some more."
And so, he went and bought a tripod, shot some more.
And pretty soon, he was published in Geographic and Audubon.
And started to become a natural, kind of outdoor, a wildlife photographer.
So, I saw him, and I thought, "Wow, that's, you know, he's just an average guy."
"You can be in the major national magazines! I could do that!"
And, uh... I decided I should be a lawyer first, though.
And I realized I didn't have the aptitude for that.
So, kind of gravitated towards photography, which I loved.
And started to do, and here it is a couple of years later, still doing it!
MARIA: What made you decide to create videos on your YouTube channel to teach others?
You know, I get asked this question a lot on our channel.
And that, it really is the fact that I had been shooting both still photography and video in my entire career.
I directed a lot of commercials.
And an art director one day said, "Hey, why don't you make a video?"
"I mean, you know how to do all that stuff once you make a video"
"and show us how--what the behind the scenes are like when you're shooting."
It was always kind of a side thing that I did.
It's always been--and still is.
It's very much been my journey, the things I'm working on, the things I'm doing.
And we just turned them into lessons.
And so, it's kind of a real look at the photo/video world from a point of view of "that's kind of what we're doing."
MARIA: Can you tell us about your normal gear setup?
So our normal gear setup here is we shoot everything on our video channel on a C200.
And we got a 24-70, so it's like a 35-105 somewhere in there, which is a great length of lens on that camera.
That's our setup. We use Sennheiser lavs.
When I shoot, I shoot on several different cameras.
I have an a7r III with that whole range of Tamron lenses for that Sony mount.
And I've also got the EOS R, which I really enjoy.
I can't wait to get the EOS R5.
So I shoot on both those cameras. I love them for different reasons.
I use them all the time. That's kind of, like, that's our go-to.
I think--The two lenses--
If I had to choose one lens I would probably have a 70-200. I love the look of that lens.
My second would be a 24-70.
MARIA: So, what was your first video, and what was it shot on?
So, our first video was done on a Mark II.
When the Mark II came out, I thought,
"You know what I've been directing commercials with these huge Panasonic cameras."
"And I want to just be able to shoot some quick little video things."
And that 5D Mark II was fabulous!
So I shot a little video about--we did a 50's kind of shoot at a gas station using a softbox and lighting.
And it was a lot of fun. That was one of our very first videos.
The other day I thought, "You know, I've shot almost 350 videos on my channel!"
I'm thinking, "Man that's a lot of videos!" So I opened up the channel just to look at it.
And I was wrong: we've shot almost 650 videos on our channel.
So we've been doing this for a while.
MARIA: Is there a specific video that helped you get noticed in the YouTube world?
I don't know if there's a particular video that got us noticed in the YouTube world.
Although, you know, it's kind of I did a couple early on.
One I did, which was the five portrait lighting positions,
Which has had over millions of views.
And it really kind of became a foundation video.
People use that at colleges, they use it to teach.
It's been copied a million times.
I think that was one of the beginning ones.
It had a very high production level.
We had an overhead camera. We had a camera on the ground.
We had the camera I'm shooting on, so it's picture in picture.
So, of course, at the end of it, my assistant picks up a reflector,
and as he turns around he knocks the model off her stool,
She falls off the stool,
stumbles onto the seamless,
tears the seamless down
and falls out of the frame.
That became a gif. It was all over the place.
And that was probably a video that got us a lot of recognition.
MARIA: When you first started the channel, did your family and friends understand this career decision?
You know, when I first started the channel it really was kind of a side hustle.
And just, it slowly kind of came on.
My wife used to say "You are wasting way too much time on that Slanted Lens thing, man!"
And she was probably right, but in the end it's paid off, so.
MARIA: That's great! And, do you have a large team, or do you do everything yourself?
I know you shoot a lot with Kenneth.
So we don't have a large team here. Kenneth and I do camera reviews together.
but I've got Kenneth. Andy has been DP, shooter. Kenneth shoots for me.
It's a pretty small group. Jolene styles most of the things that we shoot.
I do work with Terry at Makeup Magic when we do the bigger production kinds of things.
And those are a lot of fun, you know. So, our team is not large.
If we have about 5 or 6 on set that's a pretty big setup for us.
But we do some pretty large things with 5 or 6 people.
But most of the stuff like we're shooting today, It's just Kenneth and myself.
Jolene came along to help with wardrobe, but she'll be leaving here shortly.
So, it's a pretty small group.
MARIA: And what's your favorite part of your work?
Favorite part of my work. That's so interesting.
I love to shoot there's no doubt about it. I love to shoot.
I just, I--That whole experience is just fascinating to me.
And, you know, quite frankly, I love to see the images on the camera.
And I love to see the final outcome, but...
I almost love shooting more than I love seeing the images when I'm done.
It's kind of crazy, but I do love seeing the images when I'm done.
I love to shoot. If I could shoot only one thing I would shoot vintage images.
Like, I would stage images from different time periods.
I love that kind of vintage time period thing, and I've shot a lot of that.
My daughter goes, "Stop shooting old stuff!" You know, but...
I do love that.
MARIA: Okay, let's switch it up a little bit: what are some tips to give to beginner photographers?
You know, I think beginner photographers need to shoot and shoot and shoot.
If you're not at least shooting once a week, you just, you're not gonna get kind of the groove of it.
You really need to be shooting on a really regular basis.
So my first advice is just shoot a lot.
And then, you've got to get educated. You've got to look for information out there!
Because, if you kind of want to wander down this trail by yourself,
you will take a long time to figure it out.
Critiques are one of the best things you can possibly listen to.
Other people's critiques.
You can't make enough mistakes fast enough to be able to learn it all.
But you can see what other people are doing,
and see the critiques that they're getting, and that really helps you to progress.
So just shoot like crazy, educate yourself, and then look at what people are saying about other people's work.
The last one I'd say is this: if your images don't look like they belong with high-end professional work, why?
Try to figure that out, that will help you grow.
MARIA: If you had to choose just one to teach, lighting or photography?
If I had to choose just one to teach, lighting or photography...
I would definitely talk about lighting.
I love light. I think...
You know, I just had this experience at an art center,
where Charlie Potts turned all the lights off. He was a master at lighting,
and he had every light off, and he goes, "I want everyone to take a picture of me now."
He said, "Quickly, get a picture."
And of course, the room was absolutely black. There was no light in there whatsoever.
And then he said, "Most of you think cameras are your tools."
And he said, "Cameras aren't your tools."
"Cameras simply record what you do with light."
And so I've always said--it's always stuck with me.
So I'm always thinking about light, and so I probably want to teach light.
I gave two long answers on these Maria, I'm so sorry!
MARIA: No, come on!
Is there a dream shoot or location you've been wanting to make a video about?
JAY P: A dream shooter location?
There is a a dream shooter location I've been dying to shoot at.
It would cost me about 8,000 dollars to shoot there,
but at the Mystic Seaport on the East Coast,
they've got an old whaler ship. It's called the Morgan.
And it's just--they just restored it. It's a fabulous ship.
And I thought, "I should do a kickstarter campaign try to raise the money to be able to shoot there"
And do these old whaling kinds of scenes on that ship would just be so fun to me.
I don't know why that seems so exciting to me, but that's a place I've always been thinking about.
MARIA: How did you decide on the name Slanted Lens?
So The Slanted Lens kind of came because I did a book.
And my images were kind of like, they were things that happened to people.
And I started calling them "Unfortunate Images."
So I went to do a book in a calendar,
and the publisher goes, "You can't do a book called 'Unfortunate Images!'"
"No one's gonna buy a book about unfortunate things!"
And I said--Well I, you know. So I couldn't think of what to do, and I start thinking about
you know, what we did, we shot.
And I was brainstorming one day, and I thought,
"Well, how about The Slanted Lens? Like things are just kind of off."
It's photography, but it's slanted. So it's The Slanted Lens.
So that's kind of where it came from.
So that's kind of where it came from, and that was my first book.
My book was called The Slanted Lens, and I did several calendars called The Slanted Lens as well.
MARIA: What has been the most challenging shoot you've had to do?
Wow, the most challenging shoot that I've ever done.
I've done some pretty crazy stuff that I thought was gonna just absolutely kill me.
We were on the backlot of Warner Bros once,
We had a huge office. We had a fire truck. We had fire.
We had water. We had talent like crazy. I mean it was just so many things.
And you're trying to get that all to coordinate at one time.
And it was absolutely crazy trying to get that all to work together.
Got someone on structure flying. Got a motorcycle coming through the window.
I mean it was out of control, and try to get that set up.
And I remember setting that thing, and finally we got the shot.
And I was getting images. I'm shooting four by five as fast as I can.
I shot, like, 150 200 sheets of film.
And I'm going, "We have it! I know we have it!"
"We have it!" And it's such a great feeling.
And then, the fire department came.
And they said, "Where's your fire marshal?"
I'm going, "We're at Warner Bros, why would we need a fire marshal?"
"You have to have a fire permit. You can't shoot here without a fire permit!"
And I said, "Well, we don't have a fire permit."
"Well we got to shut you down"
And they said, "The only reason we didn't shut you down--"
and this was a 150,000 dollar shoot--
"The only reason we didn't shut you down is because you had a fire truck,"
"and you had people dressed in fire outfits. So we figured you had a fire permit."
So, in the future, just have a fire truck and a fireman in an outfit,
and then you can get away with not having a fire permit.
But that was a crazy shoot. There's no doubt about it.
MARIA: And, which has been your favorite shoot?
My favorite shoot that I've ever done is there's no question about it.
I rebuilt an Edward Hopper's--ode to Edward Hopper's Nighthawk.
Nighthawks. It was just done for me. It was a lot of money.
I just wanted to show an image that I loved and wanted to shoot.
It's kind of what started my love of this kind of vintage imagery.
And so, it's just Ode to Edward Hopper's.
And it's interesting because when that was all done,
and the studio was empty, the crew had gone home.
There's no one there but me, I turned the lights on in that little set.
And I sat in there for a while, and I just thought about this process.
How hard it had been to do it, and yet how much I loved the image that I got.
And I guess I decided that day that this was worth it to me.
Because it wasn't easy. It was never easy.
I also had four kids, and trying to balance work in life and all that kind of stuff.
It was it was never easy, but it always felt worth it.
And that kind of was a turning point. I felt like "this is what I want to do."
You know, at that point I was in over my head, but it's not such a bad place to be,
if you could swim a little bit.
MARIA: Okay if you weren't a photographer what would you be?
If wasn't a photographer, I'd be a dentist because then I could have enough money to buy photography gear.
I would be a terrible dentist. Don't come to me if I'm a dentist.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
The best advice I've ever received, I think, came from my father about photography.
And it came to him from National Geographic.
And the guy Geographic said to him when he started shooting,
"You can tell how good a photographer is by the size of their trashcan."
And that meant to him that if you don't shoot a ton,
you're not gonna get good stuff.
And so, it's always kind of been, I've got to shoot a lot.
You got to be shooting and working and progressing.
So it's maybe a shotgun approach in some people's mind.
But I think it's more about a commitment approach.
You're trying to shoot a lot, and really explore and do interesting things.
And I think that's been one of the best advices I've ever gotten.
That and, you know, "keep your feet dry." I don't know.
[Jay P. inaudible] MARIA: Aside from your camera,
What's your favorite piece of gear?
Aside from the camera, what's my favorite piece of gear?
Well I could say lens, but that seems like a camera to me.
Well, it would definitely be a strobe. I love strobes.
I've got these FJ400's from Wescott right now. I absolutely love them.
And I shoot on them all the time.
I love strobe lighting because it gives me complete control.
So if I have a camera and a strobe, I can light the world.
It's a great combination.
I don't understand people's kind of resonance about strobes
because I think it gives you incredible control.
MARIA: If there were to be a movie about your life, who would play you?
If there's a movie about my life, who would play me?
Well obviously George Clooney because he looks like me!
I think that would be the one.
I love George Clooney like in the Coen brothers movies
because he has this--he's such a good looking guy.
But he has this kind of slapstick over-the-top side as well,
which I love. And a lot of my photography feels like that, so it would have to be George Clooney.
MARIA: And, who should we interview next?
So who should you interview next?
You know Barbara Bortnik. She was an incredible photographer that inspired me back in the 80s.
She did incredible work for magazines and just a fabulous photographer.
She lives in New York City. I would love to hear an interview from her.
Barbara Bortnik, fabulous photographer.
So thanks for calling Maria.
I'm gonna get back to it and hopefully this was helpful.
Hopefully wasn't too long!
MARIA: No, this is great!
JAY P: Alright Chanda let's get back in!
Let's get a shot.
MARIA: Thanks so much for answering all my questions!
See ya!
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