After the photos session, I ask people to write in a book, what the experience of being photographed was like. At first iit surprised how many would say it was life changing and therapeutic the session was. This is said so often now that I believe i would be a very good compliment for healing,self discovering and empowering retreats and conferences. These particular images are works in progress, where i plan to make the black writing in gold, on the back of my business cards.
Jaja and i worked together in marketing at WATG. Outside our office, once a year, we would see these pink flowers bloom for a few weeks next our office parking lot. Jaja was colorful in our office in every way, in style and heart and when i saw the pink wink at me through the window we made a date to shoot. She had never been photographed before and we had a blast. This is just one of several looks we captured.
I had the honor of not only being walked through the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa at the end of 2016, but on the day of commerce/community exchange i was able to photograph this "sacred artist in modern times". He had a lovely skylight in his studio so i just set up my favorite black backround and witnessed this man show so many faces from his african heritage. I was waiting till after I show I'm doing of him before I show more of this wonderful man, but more will be coming soon.
These were with my first digital camera back in 2000. Here I played with the camera settings of sepia and infrared. The first shots are taken in her shower and the rest are on a windowsill. Kamila eventually left Venice and moved back to the Czech Rebuplic to work for an orphanage.
“Jana photographed over 40 people in our office.
With only 15 minutes with each person, I was amazed at how many great images she got of each of them. They were for in-house corporate purposes, however, I’ve seen these shots used as their personal profile pictures on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
Jana has a real gift making people feel comfortable
in front of the camera and the images that impressed me the most were of the people who said they don’t like being photographed!”
- Bob Napack - Director of Graphic Support - WATG
Lisa was the second person I photographed in my new stoodio at the time. I asked her to give me a little blessing and you can see that in the third slide. We also did a few fashion changes and I also got details of the cool tattoos on the forearms of this spunky grandmother from Iran.
High School Senior Samir was wondering if he could model, so our plan when shot in an empty parking structure (same location as his sister Kiyara) and that i'd try to photograph him in a way that looked like different styles. I am simple in my style, but if i can get people to drop into comfort and then a mood, then changes come about. Samir is Dutch/Persian. I think he was able to convey different looks all while still totally being himself. There are other feels from the same shoot. Check them out.
Lana is a proffessional photo editor. She doesn't like to be photographed and held her ground. I even brought a huge chain to go with a dress i pinned on her for this shoot. After seeing these she agreed she was beautiful when she smiled, but she still felt that I should only show my subjects the pretty shots, but i still feel it's valuable we hold space for ALL our parts and just the ones we "approve" of.
These were engagement photos, but they didn't want anything "typical". I shot in my stoodio under the skylight against two different walls and we got alot of different looks. These are just a few.
"My first time doing a photoshoot, and it felt really natural to be in front of the camera. Emotionally, soothing, knowing I can be exactly myself." - Stephanie - Sports Massage Therapist
"This was my first time doing anything like this. It took me a little while to get comfortable, but it was still a lot of fun. I would do it again. Thank you for the experience!" - Kelly - Unit Assistant at Psychiatric Hospital
Natalia and I spent the whole day together. We explored archetypes and one day i'll edit them and show the whole story, but for now i just played with adding a gel, something i rarely do. Natalia is a deep person for someone so young at the time, and i love how that comes through her photos.
I met Kim at the South Coast Plaza. She was a salesgirl in one of my favorite boutiques. She had this great haircut and reminded me of a young monk and also a french pierrot, so i offered to photograph her. She came with your young son and mother. And although i got a lot sweet solo shots on different colored backgrounds, i enjoyed the light on and in these shots of the three of them together.
Sidney was 15 and wanted to model, but she had never been photographed professionally before and she wanted to practice. These are a few from the second set/change we did inside here sisters room next to the windwo light, through a mirror and against a poster of Paris. Sidney reminded me of of Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde and i also saw a little of Paulina Porizkova, Julianne Moore and Taylor Swift.
Susan is a wonderful therapist who works with African Rituals. She also happens to be the leader of my womens circle in Laguna Beach. She needed photos for marketing purposes and these are a few outtakes. She is bold yet shy. Personally, i think shyness is very lovely. I look forward tot he day we get to shoot just for personal exploration. She is an incredibly generous, intelligent and caring woman.
This is the third part of my day shoot with 15 year sidney.. This time we set up old lights in her garage. She was really comfortable with moving on her own now. She learned fast how to model and I think she is a real natural.
" I loved the way Jana spent time getting to know my daughter, Sydney, before even attempting to tale any photos. Jana gave her directions that she could naturally pick up which made Sydney loosen up and feel extremely comfortable. I loved her creative eye and the ideas she had to bring out many different "looks" in Sydney. Overall the day felt like it flew by because Jana kept every shot interesting for Syd - which is hard for a 15 year old! I highly recommend Jana to any parent!!" - Kelly Hawthorne - Mother
I originally did 32 headshots in one day during a conference for this MLM company. I showed the marketing director how beautiful and inspiring her distributors were and she saw right away, the value in incorporating real people (and not models or stock photography) into their future marketing. As a result I did a rare marketing/lifestyle shoot with 10 of their distributors and here are just few of those shots. Who says regular people can't model? Look how beautiful and alive these women are.
Erica was one of the very first people I ever photographed, when i had my studio in Santa Monica. She was and still is an interior designer. and her children are teenagers now.
Chris was a master planner at WATG. We were both on a business trip at our office in Honolulu. I had a shoot schedule in my suite set up and then was cancelled, and Chris was kind to fill in. We just messed around in front of the curtains. Chris is also a musician, a vegan, and cyclist and it was cool to capture a bit of his edge but also the boy he used to be.
15-year-old Jacob wanted to see if he could model, so he came to my stoodio to practice. He had never been photographed before and I think he did really well. I like to show people all the different sides of themselves, the strengths as well as the vulnerabilities. We can learn alot about ourselves if we let ourselves be seen in all our facets.
At the time, David left a big corporate job at Ford and signed up to teach in East LA and become an interpreter in the courts. He then went on to travel the world and become a transformed human being. This was not a formal shoot, but i loved the strange green light in this Vietnamese restaurant in LA.
Sidney wanted to model, so her mom asked me to come over try practicing with her. With my styling and art direction background I was able to help Sidney understand that she is in ultimate control of the shots. These were the warm up shot we did without any makeup in her backyard.
"Shooting with Jana today was really fun. She helped me feel very comfortable and content. She helped me find who I was in the pictures through all the make-up and clothes. I also loved how she experimented with different looks and lighting. Overall I really loved shooting with her."- Sydney Mach
See Part 2 and Part 3 how Sidney progressed.
Sebastian is a professional rock n roll photographer. based out of LA He asked to photograph me and i said i would IF he let me take a few of him after ha ha. I like that in that brief informal time i was able to see hint of the boy within him. It's always amazing how innocence shows up in photos. I wish i could have done more.
Phaedra is powerful painter who paints the feminine subconscious. She needed some headshots for an upcoming show. She wanted to try being photographed raw and honest. She liked that i rarely embellished my photos, so i never did any retouching or enhancing for her.
Becky is a devoted mother of four. She is also a photographer, graphic designer and wonderful homemaker, so I was a little nervous to photograph her. I knew she was photogenic but what I was hoping to capture and hoping she would also see, was her femininity and deeply caring spirit. In the last images shown here, she was thinking about her family and I believe it shows.