Profiles

Catching Up with Jeff Newsom

By Ed ⋅ August 21, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I was on California’s Central Coast a week ago to shoot a wedding in Avila Beach. I was fortunate enough to grab some lunch with San Luis Obispo wedding photographer Jeff Newsom. This year, brides are booking Jeff for weddings across the West and beyond–with recent weddings in Paso Robles, Southern California, Santa Barbara, the Bay Area, and Seattle.

I’ve always been impressed by Jeff’s images and drive to keep things original. He is one of the few wedding photographer whose blog I check on a regular basis. After returning home, I emailed Jeff some questions about his business and style.

Bride and groom share a first dance

Bride and groom in Carpinteria, California

Renowned commercial and editorial shooter Vincent Laforet says that his desire is to produce images he’s never seen before. I get the feeling you have a similar goal with wedding images. Would you say that’s accurate?

Yeah, I suppose that sounds fairly accurate.  Instead of me trying to produce new images, I focus on trying to not produce images that I have seen.  I do everything in my power to avoid shooting in the same place or taking the same photo more than once.  I just want to capture my clients persona’s in their own unique ways all while satisfying the artist in my head.

Laforet also has some incredible tilt-shift images in his editorial work. How did you get started using the TS-E lenses with weddings and engagement portraits?

Before I bought a tilt-shift I scoured the internet out of curiosity about the lenses and their capabilities.  When I couldn’t find a single portrait online using a tilt-shift, I knew I had to have one.

Jeff's portraits are anything but dull

From a recent wedding in Pasadena, California

Tell me about the bar code logo. How did that come about?

I started to notice a lot of blogs popping up with very similar blog tags to mine.  So after a small bit of exploring with new concepts I made a bar code.  I fell in love with the idea.  It was clean, different, didn’t distract from the images and was very much anti-wedding-industry.  Perfect fit.

Roughly how many weddings are you shooting this year?

I shoot about 50 weddings a year, I’m pretty sure this year is on par.

I know you’ve been traveling for weddings quite a bit this year. Tell me about some of your favorite locations so far.

No favorites, per se.  I didn’t shoot anywhere super exotic or crazy this year, so I don’t have any mind blowing stories.  However, on a personal level, I just shot a wedding at Caltech.  I mention that because I planned on going to school there when I was studying mathematics & physics.  I was hanging out in one of the libraries and couldn’t really contain my excitement for the wealth of nerd knowledge around me.  Oh, and the library was old, legit, and looked bad ass in the photos.

The best DIY website ever

Bridal party near the Paso Robles wine country

You also design and develop your own website. How do you find time to shoot, edit, travel, and still build one of the most original photography sites out there?

I honestly don’t know.  Its is all done out of the love for people and art.  The sad part about my website is that I build this strong urge to redesign it every 6 months or so.  That urge always shows up when I’m at my busiest.  I suppose, the more photos I shoot, the more inspired I get and that feeling carries itself over to all the elements of my business.  I have 11 weddings this month and I’m in the middle of updating my website right now.  It’s sad, really.

The economy and it’s effects on the industry are hot topics right now. Have you noticed any changes in inquiries, bookings, or sales this year?

I’ve noticed it’s impact on the industry, for sure.  However, for whatever reason, my inquiries are through the roof right now and I’m definitely not complaining.

On that note, do you think it would be tougher for someone to start shooting full-time this year as opposed to, say, 4 years ago?

Absolutely.  4 years ago, it wasn’t that difficult to break through and make a statement.  It was an awkward time for the more traditional photographer switching to digital and definitely awkward for the digital artists overly ambitious about photoshopping their photos.  Although there have been amazing photographers both then and now, it was a lot easier to stand out among the rest a few years back.  Now, the industry is very tight knit, great websites and resources are available to everyone.  The quality of work across the board is awesome.  It takes a very special inspiration to stand out and get the ball rolling towards shooting full-time.  It is still very accessible, you just have to be willing to take some risks!

Ok, I know the gear heads out there want to hear about your setup. You shoot Canon. What 3 lenses do you use most?

Alright, this is impossible for me to answer.   I bring 9 lenses to every wedding and use 6 of them extensively.  I absolutely cannot live without my 24mm 1.4L, 35mm 1.4L, 45mm 2.8 TS-E, 85mm 1.2L or the 200mm 1.8L.  I know its not 3, but those are essential.

How excited are you about the new baby?

I would say “infinity out of ten”, but just know that I have never been so excited in my entire life.  I can’t freaking wait!!