Design & Style, Arts & Entertainment

Commercial Case Study: Canon Shoot

Lesson time 23:03 min

Analyzing photos and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from a high-alpine photoshoot, Jimmy teaches his approach to leading a team and composing shots in the mountains.

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Topics include: Commercial Case Study: Canon Shoot

Jimmy Chin

Teaches Adventure Photography

National Geographic photographer teaches his techniques for planning, capturing, and editing breathtaking photos.

Preview

Sometimes the process of working with a commercial client is also educating them. Educating them about, you know, what it is to shoot this kind of an image or what it is to shoot this kind of campaign. There are a lot of great agencies and a lot of great producers and creative directors who get it. But sometimes, especially in my line of work, they don't really understand that you don't just go out in the backyard and snap this shot. A recent job that kind of illustrates the commercial process would be a shoot I did actually a couple weeks ago for Canon. The job came directly to me. I was presented with an idea from the agency, which was great. I didn't have to pitch. I didn't have to kind of go on hands and knees, begging for this job. But there were a couple stipulations around it. They said, look. This is the biggest campaign we've done since the 5D. And we want you to do what you do. Here's some creative that we'd like you to consider. The kind of presentation they gave me actually were images that they'd pulled from my website, and they knew what they wanted, essentially. The stipulation was that they needed it done in two weeks, meaning that we would have a week to put it together and then a week to execute it. And literally, they were going to print in two weeks. Given what they were showing me that they wanted, it was a very broad kind of scope of work. The images that they had pulled were from-- cherry-picked from two-month-long expeditions to Everest and to expeditions around the world. High alpine climbing. Shots that were, like, the iconic shots from each expedition. So yeah. I explained to them. I said, hey, look. These shots, I get what you're going for. These shots aren't exactly just really easy to get. So we talked about the budget. We talked about how serious they were. Did it really have to be glaciated, high alpine terrain? Could it be smaller peaks? But they were like, no. We really want to push this campaign, and we really want you to do this and take it as far as you can go. So then we started to put the plan into place. I needed to put together basically an alpine assault team of climbers that could climb at a very high level. There were restrictions around who we could pick because of the timeline, because of permitting issues, because of work visas. So I knew I had to get Canadians. I called all the-- as if there's tons of high alpine specialists. And most of them weren't available. It was just too short notice. So the best guys I knew of were out. I had to then go and ask for recommendations. I knew that I was going to have to pick a team of climbers that I'd never worked with before. So I vetted them as best I could and put together a really strong safety team, and explained to the client that given the timeline, we couldn't have a huge production either. I couldn't bring in five clients and five people from the agency. Like, this was going to be kind of a surgical strike...

About the Instructor

Jimmy Chin has built his career taking photos at the top of the world, earning him the cover of National Geographic and multiple awards. Now he’s taking you on location to teach you techniques for capturing breathtaking shots. In his photography class, learn different creative approaches for commercial shoots, editorial spreads, and passion projects. Gather the gear—and the perspective—to bring your photography to new heights.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Jimmy Chin

National Geographic photographer teaches his techniques for planning, capturing, and editing breathtaking photos.

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