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Photos to Inspire: Jerry Garns
By Lynne Eodice | Photos to Inspire |
Aug 1, 2006
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All images © Jerry Garns
On any given day, Jerry Garns can be found photographing a Honda or
Isuzu in his large cove studio. He’s been shooting for American Honda
Corporation since the late ’80s, and his sleek interior and exterior
automobile images appear regularly in the company’s brochures, sales
manuals, and on the Honda and Acura websites. Additional clients
include Isuzu, Nissan, B.F. Goodrich, MTA (Metro Transit Authority),
Exxon Mobil and Motor Trend.
Garns often works with a professional who preps cars, and often removes
a portion of the automobile to better light and photograph a car’s
interior. He also relies on several dependable assistants. “You’ve got
to work with people who are good, and who you trust. I couldn’t do this
alone.” Lighting for
automotive photography is intricate and
fine-tuned. In Garn’s studio, he has a 10x29-foot white reflective
panel suspended from the ceiling and frequently bounces various lights
off this panel. It takes a number of people to successfully perform a
shoot like this.
His interest in photography began in the ’60s, when he was a teenager
whose father worked as a professional photographer. And although he
makes a very good living today photographing cars, Garns also loves
creating images of Latin people and their culture, an interest that
began when he was 18 and in the Marine Corps. He was stationed first in
Puerto Rico and later, in Viet Nam. Garns was assigned to the military
photo lab, and bought a Pentax Spotmatic, “my first decent 35mm
camera,” he remembers.
To See a Gallery of Jerry Garns' Images, Click Here
He eventually went to Venezuela on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints, but didn’t pursue photography on this venture. He
did, however, learn to appreciate Latin culture and to speak Spanish
during this period of time. As a result, he is continually inspired to
produce intriguing personal work. “I find it important to not only
shoot the commercial assignments that come my way, but to actively
pursue personal projects,” he points out. A number of his favorite
images in his portfolio have been photographed in Guatemala, Mexico,
Argentina and Spain.
Garns was also educated at The Art Center School of Design in Pasadena,
California. “If someone’s interested in becoming a professional
photographer,” he explains, “there’s no better training ground than
this.” Rather than starting out as an assistant, he began his
photography business in 1978 during his last semester at Art Center.
“Photography is reward enough, and money is just icing on the cake,”
Garns says. “It’s not about the money, it’s the joy of discovery and
the gratification that the end product brings to me.”
Inside Jerry Garns’ Camera Bag:
• Cameras—Toyo 4x5 large-format (with a Better Light scan back), and
Schneider and Rodenstock lenses, Hasselblad CW, Nikon D2X, and a Nikon
F100.
• Lighting—Norman and Profoto strobes for photographing people, and
Arri, Pepper and various other hot lights with Fresnel focusing lenses
and barn doors for product and car photography.
• Technical—A Macintosh G4 Powerbook when on location, two Macintosh Dual Processor G5s in the studio, and Adobe Photoshop CS2.
To see more of Jerry Garns’ images, visit http://www.jerrygarns.com.
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Last Updated: Mar 17th, 2010 - 19:57:22
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