Janyon's new work "Aaahs" for Allianz

Janyon for Continental Cup a Soup

This ad was produced and shot in a super quick turnaround (though let's not make a habit of that!) thanks to the efforts of the production team 

and a fair bit of good luck.

Shot for 303Lowe with producer Sean Ascroft and AD Alaster Spiers 

for their client Unilever.

Styling was by Carlu Siever and Retouching by Todd Sotheren 

@ Creation Theory

Photographer Janyon for Toyota

This seemingly simple brief for 

Toyota Australia's Financial Services Group was in fact quite involved.

The complication was brought about by a couple of factors.

Firstly, the ghost car effect was a device chosen by client and creative 

in order to promote the aspirational idea that with the help of TFS your 

dream Toyota could be a reality.

Secondly the requirement was that the final master file would need to be adaptable across multiple print platforms. What was required in short then is a super hi-res square-ish master file. This was achieved by shooting a 32-bit HDR panograph as background plate. This tricky bit of kit was putting it all together, which was expertly handled by Todd Sotheren at Creation Theory

A third little issue turned out to be finding suitable locations which had enough clean sky for headline and space for logo bottom right etc, whilst remaining in keeping with the clients brief.

Other little curve balls included the building site having had a shed full of cement bags dumped in the centre of our location despite all communiations and assurances that all would be untouched…so we spent some time getting a good physical workout getting that lot moved!

"Atmospheric Portraits" new personal work by photographer Janyon with make-up artist Michelle Dube

There has been no manipulation done to these images, the techniques used to create 

these "Atmospheric Portraits" have all been done in-camera

New images from Janyon for Qantas

 New print advertisment by photographer Janyon for Qantas First Class Fine Dining.

All dishes are from Neil Perry's restaurant Rockpool 

and food styling is by Sally Parker. 

 

New food work from Janyon

Janyon was getting a little bored with the rustic farmhouse so he challenged food styling couple Ben and Louise Masters to join him on a personal shoot to explore some out of the ordinary food images.
"I wanted to create some bold imagery that's in contrast to the soft-window-light, rustic french farmhouse genre. It's not that I don't like those images, they are often beautiful, but I think we need to move on."

A new personal project from Janyon

"I'm not going to go into detail on how I managed to catch a glimpse of myself whilst being upside down (some things should just stay mysterious) but I noticed it wasn't a good look. It gave me the idea of shooting a portrait series in which the subjects were in this not so comfortable predicament, which is kinda opposite to the whole "relax and look natural" conventional portrait execution. I wanted the images to look like regular portraits though, but somehow wrong.

Mark, one of the Contacts producers, rained on my parade when he told me it had been done by some guy in the US. I chose to ignore that and went ahead anyway.

Casting was a slow process as people I approached were surprisingly reluctant to be photographed in a stress-position. Its not exactly going to flatter, but I finally recruited some candidates, keeping in mind that their fitness level would need to accommodate some basic trapeze moves.

The shoot was done with the supervision of Matt at House of Yoga, Redfern. Their anti-gravity yoga studio ensured the safety of the subjects through proper instruction and equipment, so my public liability was in no danger of straining a muscle.

The producers were a huge help in pulling the shoot together, and I'm grateful for the efforts of the crew, Sandra (asst), Hilary Ho (MUA) and stylist Susannah Best, the guys at House of Yoga and the subjects who tried their best to look composed."

- Janyon

Some beautiful new work from Janyon

The photographer whom I assisted for in the mid '90's was a strong mentoring influence, and he would tell me that if you are to become a proper photographer, then that's all you should be interested in. Absolute commitment. No dabbling in music, sports or any other pointless hobbies. Eat, sleep, drink The Medium of Photography. 24/7.

It seems extreme, but it rings true. In my career I have noticed that distractions can detract from this path we have chosen to tread, The counter argument is that great work on a subject happens when the photographer has an interest in that subject. Examples abound.

It has to be a character trait of the profession to be interested in many things, and by virtue, remain interesting, but I'm just justifying that I have another interest in my life… Its no secret I'm fond of the old pushie and I have been taking a camera along on the mountain bike. I pressure myself to do justice to the atmosphere of being out on the fresh trail in the early morning, rather than attempt to emulate the brilliant action work that has been produced by those that specialize in this sort of stuff. For me its not just a bit of weekend fun, but an amalgamation of my passions.

Brief Us: The Wayside Chapel

The first of Contacts Photography Brief Us projects.

Earlier this year we did a call out to advertising agencies offering our services to shoot any personal initiative projects AD's might be been mulling over in their head. Contacts photographer Janyon and stylist Jan Edwards teamed up on the first brief that came from Denis Mamo at UrsaClemenger.  The campaign is for The Wayside Chapel and it highlights the good work of the Wayside Youth Employment Pathways Project, a project helping homeless youth find employment.

Janyon for MasterCard

Janyon took a brief from McCann AD Celine Faledam to shoot for their client MasterCard.

The concept played on the scenario known to all parents who take their toddlers or young children shopping, and relays the convenience of a swift and easy check out using the PayPass facility before the Little Treasure does some damage in the store.

Janyon suggested a low angle to simulate the child's POV would create additional tension. Celine liked the idea so Janyon recommended a set build to be able to have control of the environment and got in stylist Cherith Crozier to prop style the job and build the sets.

Meanwhile producer Penni nailed the casting and found a little Lola, a five year old with a big personality who took direction well, and whose hands had the right age "look" for what was required.

Everything came together in a relaxed shoot at Hatch studio, with the help of Jeremy Graham who assisted Janyon on the day.

Janyon and Penni hanging out with the star of the Allianz TVC

Janyon was again commissioned by Mercer Bell to shoot the stills component for the Allianz "Aaah" Roadside Assist TVC currently on air. While the stills shoot took place on a different day to filming, the talent, location and key crew from the TVC were carried over to the stills, which made a lot of sense, production-wise, but Contacts' producer Penni still had her hands full ensuring a smooth shoot day.

A rare moment for the Contacts team, Janyon and Penni, to pose with the main talent.

Janyon for Sara Lee

Photographer Janyon and food stylist Ben Masters worked together for a month on photography for the new packaging designs by Barker Gray for Sara Lee, incorporating their hot and cold dessert ranges.

The client and agency had an editorial look in mind, but weren't sure how that would translate into to the regimented stye of packaging photography. They approached several photographers to submit tests with their vision for the project.

Janyon had quite specific ideas of what he envisioned, and pursued this throughout. Testament to this being the final shot for Apple Pie being nearly identical to the test shot originally submitted.

Some products and formats proved challenging, but the team, agency and client are delighted with the results.

Merry Christmas from Contacts!

Contacts wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you survived the marathon leading up to it! We will be closed from midday Monday 24th December and re open Monday 7th January. Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Years and look forward to working with you in 2013.

The team and photographers at Contacts.

photographer Janyon
stylist Rebecca Riegger
assistant Tim Hazzard
talent Rocky
location John and Victoria's Avalon Christmas castle

Janyon talks about his recent work for Praise

"The AD, Pamela Parelli, had put together a concise brief which resonated with me straight away. It called for an expression performance from the talent, and the food to look good too. It also needed to work visually with the hands holding plates reaching in.

We were fortunate to find the perfect location, and the weather smiled upon us, being the first clear day in a while.

Had a dream team of crew, with styling by Natasha Harrison, food styling by Kristine Duran Thiesen, and Contacts' Leeby Sotheren doing makeup, and Todd Sotheren as retoucher.

The model, Angela Shallis (Scoop Management), was serene and professional, and while the exclamatory performance was out of her comfort zone, she kept on trying till we got what we wanted.

Everything was shot on location, including the packshot and additional food tabletop shot to keep costs under control.

The AD, agency and client were very happy with the outcome, and so am I. One of my favourites for the year!"

- Janyon

Janyon's shots for Allianz's image library

"We were fortunate to be commissioned to shoot images for Allianz for their ongoing library use.

The shoot appealed to my documentary roots at first, but I shifted my style in a enviro-portrait direction to accommodate  the wide range of applications that the images would be used for.

The client quite rightly felt that there was very little in existing stock that suited their needs, and wanted to use real people, in real situations, with a definite sense that we are looking at real Australians.

There were some pretty stressful challenges in getting the right talent and locations logistics sorted within the budget constraints, not to mention the curve ball thrown by the weather, but I'm proud to say the images portray, for the most part, people in their actual jobs, in their actual workplaces. In fact, the situations where hired talent had to be used, I found less convincing.

I wanted to hero the subjects subtly with lighting and casual pose, but keep it feeling natural. We scheduled around the weather for the outdoor shots, as hard sunlight is a strong differentiating factor when trying to make images look more Australian.

Our ÜberProducer Penni (Glencross) pulled absolute miracles with regards to talent, locations and even weather prediction, and needed a relaxing massage by the end of the shoot.

Cherith Crozier did a cracker of a job in the styling, and together with myself and AD Sarah Straker, we had a solid team with a clear direction throughout the shoot."

- Janyon

Janyon for MasterFoods

"The opportunity arose to submit a last minute treatment for what was originally a typographical execution with a simple hand-with-pack shot to overlay.

I couldn't think of much to make a hand more exciting, so I expanded upon the brief a little, suggesting we go for a bit more depth, and instead of doing the headline typographically, I thought of using a stencil on a wooden crate. This would give the type the genuine wood texture.The crate has relevance also, as it further suggests the use of fresh produce, and provided a tactile third dimension for the shot.

The creative team loved the idea, and sold it to the client, who was reluctant at first but happy to put their faith in us.

I stuck to my guns in my efforts to keep it "in camera", and our stylist, Jan Edwards found beautiful crates and painted stencils of varying sizes to suit the layout. We took it a step further by shooting the sauce splats on acetate so that they could be positioned in camera and required minimal comping. It also allowed us to ensure the message was not lost.

Our hand model was a pro, and was able to fine tune the amount of squeeze distortion on the pack. I had mentioned in the treatment that the squeeze is part of the fun, and wanted to portray a bit of bottle throttle, but needles to say we pulled back to a firm hold which yielded a more acceptable label distortion.

The team were stoked with the result, as was the client."

- Janyon



Clemenger BBDO. AD: Andrew Chu, Writer: Emily Lynch, CD: Luke Chess

Janyon and Jason Loucas in Shoot the Chef

Two Contacts Photographers were finalists in this year's Shoot the Chef competition.

Janyon took an interesting approach to the idea of what makes a chef and photographed a mother of six in her home kitchen.

Jason Loucas has been collaborating with James Viles from Biota Dining for over 18 months now. This shot was taken on one of Jame's many trips to Belanglo State forest to forage for Pine Mushrooms in the winter months.  James is a chef who is governed by the seasons and makes a great effort to forage and use producers from around his local area which is in Bowral, Southern Highlands.

Fair Go Bro campaign shot by Janyon is a huge success!

Virgin's Fair Go Bro campaign featuring Doug Pitt and shot by Janyon has attracted an increase in brand awareness by 21%! Read more on Campaign Brief and see more of the photos from the campaign and what Janyon had to say about working with Doug Pitt here.

Janyon and Doug Pitt

Janyon travelled to Vancouver to shoot Doug Pitt (brother of Brad) for a tongue-in-cheek campaign for Virgin Mobile Australia.  Working with Euro RSCG Art Director Ben Pearce and CD Steve Coll, the team photographed Doug in a variety of mundane urban settings to portray the fact that unlike his famous bro, Doug is just a regular guy.

"The challenge for me was that in reality, Doug is pretty used to PR photographs, so I wanted to crack through that facade and capture more natural expressions. Of course there were some opportunities that I couldn't help shooting a GQ moment."
- Janyon

Janyon's latest work for Hungry Jacks