July 14, 2025 • 49 mins
In this special AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode of the Jason Lanier Photography Unfiltered Podcast, I answer a flood of questions straight from you—my audience. We go deep into:
- 📸 How AI is changing the photography game
- 🚁 My current favorite DJI drones
- 🎒 Must-have gear and camera setups
- 🧠 Mental discipline and my personal weight loss journey
- 🎤 Plus some real talk on career, creativity, and staying relevant in today’s world
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to Jason Lenair Photography Unfiltered. This podcast
is related to an ask Me Anything session that I
did where I asked my fans, my followers, you guys
out there. I opened it up on my YouTube channel
to a live stream and gave you the opportunity to
ask me anything. This is a really fun session. I
know you're gonna love it. Here's a little previews to
(00:22):
what we got into. It was a lot of fun.
Everything's going to be affected by AI. What AI does,
if you all want to know the truth is it
pushes out the eighty percent of people who shouldn't be photographers. Sorry,
not sorry. Do you want my vice? That's my vice.
We'll get a seven or five. I don't care what
you do. You can't fight innovation and change. I kind
(00:44):
of have dexter rules for breaking into places. I will
enter a place, but I'm not going to do breaking
and entering. I'm gonna skip the breaking part and just
do the entering. And let's be honest, every drone sucks
except DJI. And I hate to say it, but I
don't even know if there's anything close to a DJI,
and that's bad. That's bad. I wish somebody would make
some damn drones so we could get our work done.
(01:06):
Crocodile tears aren't going to help. You want to make
a change, make it. That's it. You walk in in
the morning and you have to do a way in
and I walk in, and of course, since I'm fat,
I'm already self conscious that I'm walking in and I
see a scale on the grounder, I'm like, my gosh,
why is there a scale? You do not want to
run away from people unless they're you know, you know
they have a chainsaw. All right, You've heard the preview.
(01:30):
Now listen to the full length podcast and enjoy. Thanks
for being a listener. Hello, my friends, this is a
Jason Lener here. I am going to do a and
ask me anything session here on my channel. When and
where are your next workshops? From Dean I am working
on providing. I'm coming out with a whole slew of
(01:51):
workshops and it's it. I'm going to be announcing that
this month as to when and where they're going to be.
I'm working on just a variety of different kinds of
workshops and one thing that I'm going to be providing
that as a brand new kind of workshop that I
haven't done before is I am going to be doing
a series of workshop series on teaching photographers on how
(02:14):
to do great workshops. I've read a lot of you know,
I've been doing workshops for the last fifteen years, and
you know, when you do them that long, and I've
done them successfully, very successfully, and when you do them
that long, you learn a lot. You learn what to
do and want not to do. And I've read some
horror stories from you know, travels and things that people
(02:35):
have had go wrong for them, and so I was
talking with my family about it, and I thought, you know,
it could be really cool. I did actually help photographers
know how to do good workshops, especially once you get
into international workshops, you get into you know, travel logistics,
things of that nature can get really tough. I also
thought it would be potentially a great way to help
(02:57):
people understand where they're at and if they're really ready
to start doing workshops, because you know, you have to
you have to have some self awareness if you're going
to succeed, and especially if you're going to take people's
money and train them. I mean, people's money in their
time is very valuable, and so to that end, that
is one thing that I'm striving to do, and I
(03:18):
really hope that it that it helps. But if you
have any requests, like somebody says Wisconsin, if you have
any requests and things that you'd like for me to do,
please let me know. I would certainly love to hear
them from you. I just got a Sony A seven
four and A seven R five. Do you think the
Sigma eighty five one point four would be a great
lens for them? I do you know? A Sigma Sigma
(03:42):
Art lenses are great lenses, they really are. I do
prefer the A seven four over the A seven R five.
I've just shot with both of them very recently. I
shoot with the A seven four all the time. It's
my go to camera. But my buddy Steve has the
R five up in San Francisco where I've met, and
I've been shooting with his you know, quite a bit.
(04:02):
For By the way, I do have new review videos
coming out with the Sony twenty eight to seventy and
the Sony fifty to one fifty if you're if you're interested.
I've also reached out to be an h Photo and
they're going to be sending me any gear that I
want to test out. So if you guys have any
requests on gear that you'd like me to test from
any brand, let me know. Being acheill send it to
me and I'll be able to test that for you guys.
(04:24):
So I'm really looking to get things ramped up to
the way that they used to be now that I'm
you know, out of the you know, constraints of the
projects that I was working on, and I really hope
that is beneficial to all of you out there. I
really do. I want to run the channel and have
fun again with you guys. But do I think that
lens would be great? Yeah, I really do. You know,
(04:45):
it's not going to be as good as a G
Master lens the eighty five for one point four G
Master Those are just a little bit better quality from
a sharpness perspective, But honestly, you know, the price differential
between the Art Lenses and the G Master is pretty
substanti and the quality isn't as big as the price differential.
So you know, if nobody, if you don't care about money,
(05:06):
or if you're well off, get a G Master if
you really, you know, want a big bang for your buck.
The Art Lenses are a great way to go. Hi, Jason,
are you still using you believe in me? We'll say
that's Courtney. Well, thank you, Courtney. I very much believe
in you too, and I think you know why, Hi Jason,
(05:27):
you're still using the same flashes I'm using primarily goat
ocs UH usually rolling around with two of the what
you gonna call it, uh, I have a flashpoint exploring,
then I have to go docs eighty six hundred pro
and I'm primarily using those. I'm not using a lot
(05:49):
of rotal light now. And you guys, if you have
more questions about that, I'm more happy to answer that.
But you know, rod a light, Yeah, I can answer
that if you guys are instead I I don't need
to take down that rabbit hole if you're not interested.
But no, I'm not using a lot of WORDLFE simply
because well, they went out of business and now they've restructured,
and so I think that's the fastest and easiest way
(06:12):
to put it. Have you looked at e voter for editing?
That's a great question. That's an AI platform for editing.
And actually this platform that I'm using here, which is Riverside,
is another AI platform, and so it is very fascinating
for us to be able to use AI. I think
that's the only way we can make it as creative
is if we incorporate the AI into our workflow. We're
(06:38):
not going to be able to make it if we
are not working hard with AI. And you guys know,
I'm big into innovation. I always have been, from switching
from DSLR to Mirrorless, and you guys all know that story.
And now when you go from you know, when you're
looking at the AI and you can get frustrated about it,
(06:59):
I have fun with it. I mean, here's the thing
that y'alling do you think about. AI isn't going anywhere,
just like meritless wasn't going anywhere, Meaning you're not going
to be able to fight it. I don't care what
you do. You can't fight innovation and change. So if
you don't find a way to adapt, you will become extinct.
It's that simple. So if you don't want to be
one of the guys who went extinct with the film cameras,
(07:19):
don't talk to me about the zero point one percent
of people who you know were the best at their
craft and they found a niche and they're still in business.
I'm talking about ninety percent of people that go out
of business because they don't adapt. If you don't adapt,
you're going to go out of business. It's that simple.
This is true of any industry, travel industry, technology industry,
service industry. If you don't adapt, you die. So if
(07:42):
you want to make it in the world of photography, adapt.
If you're a photographer, Hi, Jason, I'm thinking of starting
a YouTube channel based around photography. Where would you start?
Any advice is appreciated from Bobby Carey. What's up, Crystal,
I would say, first and foremost, if you're starting a
(08:02):
YouTube channel, that's a wonderful question. Okay, First off, make
sure you start it and and you do a YouTube
channel that is based around things that people love, but
more importantly, things that you love. Your job as a
YouTuber if you want to be able to do it
(08:22):
long term is if you are trying to cater to
what other people want. You may get a YouTube you
may you may develop a YouTube channel that is some
most successful, but you're not going to develop a YouTube
channel that you like to do. So I've been doing
YouTube now forever, right, and yes, I've taken a hiatus
to do other projects. But now I'm coming back to
it because I really do love doing it. I do
(08:43):
love photography. I love the crazy videos I do. I
love the adventures that I do. And we're going to
get into all that other kind of stuff. So the
point is, if you are going to create a YouTube channel,
what do you love to do, Bobby? What do you
love that that you could put to film. The other
thing I would say is, if you're gonna do a
YouTube channel, make life a lot easier for yourself. Film
(09:04):
things with the iPhone. I own four iPhones and that's
how I film all of my content. I don't film
using Sony's it's a waste of time. I film using
three sixty cameras, drones and iPhones. That's how I film
all my content. And I'm talking for major documentaries and
stuff like that. You'd be amazed the things that you
can do with those cameras, the places you can put them,
(09:25):
and the content that you can create by using that
kind of technology. So I would definitely do that instead
of setting up a Sony and getting a big ass
gimbal and all that. I'm not doing that. It's a
waste of time and money again, Crystal. Hello Dave, great
to see you. Great to see YouTube. Dave, welcome back brother.
(09:46):
Thank you. Mark. Which cameras are you using these days?
I'm using the primarily the Sony A seven four, the
R five. Okay, I'm just I remember being with Emily,
we're talking seven years ago. We're in Gary, Indiana shooting
at some all the banded hospital, and I was doing
(10:07):
a review vide for the R four and I really
pissed off Sony because I said that this focus sucked
on A seven R four and it does, okay, and
then that's why I didn't go with our series. And
then when I just messed around with my buddy Steve's camera,
He's gonna get pissed off when I said this, but
I told it to his face as well as the
R five sucks too. Now, people are gonna get angry
that I say that, But it's all comparatively speaking. When
(10:29):
you compare the R five focus to the A seven
four focus at A seven four focus is better, I
have no reason. I have no clear understanding as to
why the focus sucks when there's better resolution in the cameras.
Because when I shot with the Fuji FX one hundred,
I didn't have those focus issues, but Fuji doesn't focus
as well as Sony, So that's not fair either, because
(10:51):
when it comes to focus, you know, that's what Sony
was known for, and it's one of the main reasons
I shot with them for so long is because their
focus was so good. And to me, that's the main
purpose of a camera. Don't talk to me about color
science and all that other stuff. You can easily change
that in post. The things that matter to me from
an efficiency standpoint to be able to deliver consistently great product.
(11:12):
And for that camera, that camera's job is to help
me get great shots and the story. That camera's job
is to take what's in my brain and put it
into a digital format so I can put it online,
print it, do whatever I want with it. Any tool
that helps me deliver that image in my brain and
converts that into a digital form, it converts it into
(11:35):
something that can be a tangible good. That's what I
want to use, and any any tool that helps me
do that more efficiently will get my will get my vote.
So I'm still not a fan of our series, not
to mention the fact I think it's overkill. I don't
think you need it. Most people. Sony didn't like it
when I called the A one camera steak sauce. I
(11:57):
think it's a stupid name. Number one and number two.
I think that, and I'm still a Sony shooter. I'm
not hating on Sony, but I do know a lot
about Sony, which is why I mentioned it. But what
I'm getting at is find the right tool that works
for you. Find the right you know, you guys would
know my videos finder gear works for you. But the
point is, you know, that's why I used a SUM four.
(12:18):
I love it. In fact, I just shot a video
in Los Angeles that's really cool, and you know it's
I'm going to name the video, you know, getting great
shots for crappy gear, and I took out my old
original Sony A nine. I put a few of my
old Sony's ice lenses on it, and I shot it
with the old flash Point six hundred Explore with the
(12:39):
old do you guys remember this, the Westcott halo, You
remember that, remember that old ass modifier. I put that
through the umbrella thread on the Explore six hundred and
did some really cool shots. So you're gonna see that
video dropping real soon. What if photography won't be affected
by AI, as the photos must be from the actual event. Don't.
(13:02):
Don't everything's going to be affected by AI. Everything, and
so don't sell AI shore. That's where we make mistakes,
is where we say, you know, this can't replace that. Now,
I personally believe that the way to incorporate and to
be able to be successful as a photographer is to,
(13:26):
to your point, take people, to take specific people to
specific locations and you for you to shoot them in
a certain way. That's the one way to make things
that are unique. So what AI does, if you all
want to know the truth, is it pushes out the
eighty percent of people who shouldn't be photographers. Sorry not sorry.
(13:46):
It forces people to be more competitive and better. So
if you want to make it in the world of AI,
be unique. It's kind of that simple. I recently sold
my A six thousand, which I had since you mentioned
us to us on YouTube years ago, and I'm regretting it.
I do have an A seven R five and a Fuji
XM five, but I really missed that A six thousand. Now,
(14:09):
A six thousand still a monster for the price, for
the size, For all of that, A six thousand is
still still a little little beast. When am I going
to release my classes? I should release there by classes
are going to be released this month. I am going
to get them out this month. I'm here to learn lighting.
Natural light sucks. Well, I'm glad you're here to learn lighting.
(14:32):
I just was in I posted this on my stories
on Instagram. I was in this warehouse with the model
two days ago. There's this light streaming in and I
got one reflector and I bounced that light that came in.
And it's a very very tall warehouse. The light came
in from a shaft where a ventilator fan would be
(14:54):
and it shot down one hundred feet and I bounced
it off the ground using a reflector onto the model
and the shots a wild. So you're gonna see that video.
It's really cool stuff. Did I get my drone fixed
from Miss Crystal Cadaver? No. Dji's got some spy stuff
going on with with Trump and and everything else. I
(15:15):
don't know what's going on with dj I now. In
all fairness, dj I was having stalking issues prior to
Trump getting elected, so I don't know what their issues are.
You cannot get drones these days, it's ridiculous. I wreck
my drones more often than you know most people, you know,
brush their teeth and that's pretty gross. But I do.
(15:39):
I do wreck my drones a lot because I do
crazy things with them. And I have three of the
many four pros and they're they're all. I need a
Frankenstein them. But I need, I need, I need some
like nerd to really, you know, help me with because
I need to hack that crap because my drone will
(16:00):
not get out of that stupid there's some error code
mode where overheats. You guys ever had the stupid drone
where it goes into attitude mode and it literally flies
off and crashes. Well, that's what happens with my damn drones. Man,
these drones piss me off, but I do love them.
I was with Courtney at six Flags during a snowstorm
(16:21):
and I flew the drone into the ferris wheel. That
was awesome, but I ended up getting that drone backed
all right, next sports photography. I have a drone, iPhone
and phone, gibble and Dji Mini mics yep, yep, DJ
is great stuff, but they cannot get they cannot get
their drones out. Adrian Day the master has returned. Well,
(16:42):
thank you, glad to see your back and looking. Life
is treating you okay, yep, life's treating me great. Just
stopping from the UK question, what's your best what's your
take on the best way to sell images in twenty
twenty five? Wow, cell images be unique? And I know
that sounds like a really generic answer, but you have
to do things at other people can't do, especially in
a day and age where people get their iPhones, they
(17:04):
take a picture. You can erase, people, remove, people, do whatever,
and you can edit it. You can put fake skis
and you can do blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah. So that's where you're lighting. That's where
your location, and that's where your composition and your ability
to post somebody really come into play. Also your ability
to storytell and to be able to extrapolate and tell
(17:26):
a story when you're in these environments and you're shooting.
If you're able to do that, you can be far
more successful. Because you know, as much as AI is
going to keep getting better every single day, every single
day it's gonna start, it's going to keep getting better.
That being said, you know they're still there's still robot images.
(17:49):
So when I go in, like Crystal and Courtney, two
models that are on this stream that I've mentioned, both
of them, I love both of them. They're both amazing models,
and I've worked with both of them extensively. Like some
of the shots that we've gotten at six Flags and
other places, you know, the stories and everything that we
bring together to create those images, that's what makes it unique.
(18:10):
It's that we shot it at six Flags, It's the
props that we use, it's the costuming, it's everything else
that is unique. Like if you just plugged in, hey,
put a model at the Farriswool at six Flags New Orleans,
people would be like, I mean, Ai'll pump out something,
but it's going to be pretty generic. So that's my point.
(18:31):
Get unique with your work and then find a niche
find people that love it. Like I was talking about
that YouTube channel, your job as a creator isn't to
try to appeal to everyone. Your job is to put
your stuff out there and find people who who you
appeal to. So let your audience find you. You have
to work hard for them to find you. But my
point is, do you and attract the people that are
(18:55):
attracted to you, all right, what are your go to lenses?
What are your go to lenses you use the most,
says Uritannian Photography. My go to lenses that I use
the most are woof that fifty to one fifty is
(19:15):
a monster lens. That thing's beast. That twenty to seventies
monster lens. They vignette. Both lenses vignette, but you know,
it is what it is. They're lighter than the cannon versions.
But those yeah, those are great lenses. But me personally,
it's always going to be the fifty. I love a
fifty millimeter lens. I love a thirty five m b
(19:36):
b buh, fifty thirty five. I mean I could keep
going fourteen, twenty twenty four, I mean, up and down
the list. But what do I use the most? What
gets the most work from my my cameras to fifty
millimeters thirty five and the eighty five u BO with
Tracy Blackwell, So good to see you back. The podcast
(19:58):
is Greate as well. Well, thank you, Tree, see that's
pretty kind of you. Much love. I hope, I hope
you're not offended that I gave you a kiss, yo,
Jason glad to see your streaming. How's your work in
New Orleans going? Hope you're doing well. Oh and I'm
getting the track piece you sent me clean by an expert.
Oh my gosh, it's expensive. This is Colin. Colin came
(20:20):
to my workshop in New Orleans and uh, you know,
I worked with the powers that be there to get
him a piece of the old megaz F track and
so that is at his house. And that's pretty awesome.
I'm happy for you. I don't know why you're getting
a clean that's history, baby boy. You're taking my fingerprints
off it. Shame on you. But you know I love
you Colling. I'm just having fun with you. But that's awesome. Uh.
(20:44):
In regards to the park, the park is currently in
a complete stalemate. Uh. And they've they've taken a good
amount of the waist out of the park, but the
park there has been no demolition since April when I left.
So when I left, demolitions stopped, and three months later
there has been no progress on the demolition. And that's
(21:05):
where it sits right now. The park is currently about
fifty percent gone. That's where it sits. What's your favorite
niche in photography? That's tough. I'm very hard to focus.
That's that's one of my key problems. But I do
love I love shooting models. I love the freedom of
(21:28):
going into these abandoned places and doing that kind of stuff.
But I also love documentaries, and that's you know, that's
why I did the Six Flags project as well as
the Border project. The Border project that I did would
piss off anybody, no matter what your political affiliations are.
So I kind of think that I did something right
in doing that, because my goal in doing any sort
(21:51):
of a photojournalistic endeavor is to be able to provide
the truth just from an observational standpoint, and I hope
that people see it as well. Greetings from Germany. Everybody
reached for forty two to sixty two megapixels, but it
as an amateur photographer, is it okay? Twenty four megapixels
APSC Alpha six A six thousand. Yeah, man, Well, I'm
(22:15):
I would consider myself top pro I think a lot
of people would. I'm not shooting for forty two to
sixty two megapixels. I think it's overkill, especially in today's
day and age, where there's very very little that's actually
going to print. I think it's complete overkill. And that's
one of the reasons I just did that shoot where
I said I did it using quote unquote crappy gear
shooting with the twenty four megapixel Sony A nine, the original.
(22:38):
You can absolutely shoot with an A nine and or
a twenty four megapixel camera and get great results one
hundred percent. I've been shooting now with film again for
two years, and I've noticed the market's just exploding. What
are your feelings and what are your shooting thoughts on
shooting any film? Shooting film is going to explode. It's
just like how you know, it's funny when I run
(23:00):
around with models, which is all the time. When I
run around with models, nine times out of ten, what
they the one camera? They won't have any cameras outside
of their iPhone, but the one camera that they will
have will be like the Fuji Kodak whatever, their little
Kodak version of Fuji, right. They love to do that.
And the kids these days love the little you know,
insta camera whatever stuff. Everybody loves something nostalgic, and that's
(23:24):
really what it boils down to. In fact, another trend
going around is people love like the ninety the really
crappy two to four megapixel digital original digital versions of
you know, digital cameras. They love that.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Why do they love it Because their life missed that
chunk of evolutionary process in photography. So they love to
go back to anything that didn't include them so they
can experience it for themselves.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
They'll go and shoot it for a little while, they'll
see how cool it is. Until it sucks. I don't
know how else to say it. Now. Film is not
in that necessarily in that same vein because film the
resolution is there. So that's what I'm not saying, film sucks.
What I am saying is there's always going to be
a niche for film. It's always going to be a
(24:13):
small niche. But there will always be a niche for film.
It's just not going to ever be huge. That would
be my take. It's been eight years since I saw
you last, but I'm glad to see you back on YouTube.
YouTube was not as reliable back then, and your channel
is looking good. Well, thank you. I appreciate that very much.
My hat, by the way, this thing has got to go.
(24:35):
It has got to get replaced. But my hat. I'm
just saying this because I'm looking at it. I'm looking
at my hat for the people listening to the podcast.
It looks like it's been run over by a train,
and you know it belongs in the a museum for asbestos.
That comes with good reason. It's because of the fact
that I've been shooting with it and using it at
(24:55):
Six Flags. But I don't get rid of my hats.
My hats have certain sections of my life where I
can created work. This is my Six Flags hat. My
son told me he's got me a new hat for
Father's Day. Still waiting on that. I think it's a
month he's a month late. But we'll see what happens.
But I need a new hat. But no, I appreciate that.
Thank you as always great advice. What I've been I've
(25:18):
been with you since your days before the Sony Day.
Is very grateful for your input. You are so welcome, Adoran,
thank you for being here, my man, Susan Tanitsu missed
you over here in Ozzie Land. Oh I love Ozzie Land.
I got to get back. I was just there what
year and a half ago. I got to get back.
That was a fun adventure. Colin says he's keeping the
patina on the on the six Flags track intact. That's great.
(25:42):
Keep it intact, baby boy, don't get too excited about it.
And Colin knows what I mean by that scale. At
one to ten, how much do you miss me? Antisocial pictures?
For those who don't know, he's Whispers the clown up
in New York. I miss some tons. He's creepy as hell.
He's also a really cool guy. And the next time
I'm in New York, we got we gotta get together,
(26:03):
my man. But it's definitely a ten. I miss you
big time, All Cars United. I wonder if drones are
hard to get as they are used during the war.
I high doubt it's a war related issue. I think
it's customs. I think it's tariffs, and because the fact
that you know, I've been buying, and let's be honest,
(26:24):
every drone sucks except DJI. I mean, I hate to
say it, but I don't even know if there's anything
close to DJI. And that's bad. That's bad. It's bad
for us as consumers because if there's no alternative, you
can say Sony sucks, Cannon sucks, Nicon sucks. At least
we have choices. So if Sony goes out of business,
or if Sony has problems with the government, we have options.
(26:44):
We can do Nicron Cannon. We don't have that option
right now because Dji is the only person out there,
the only entity out there. So I wish an American
company would make some drones. I wish some European companies
would make some drones. I wish somebody would make some
damn drones so we could get a work done. I
really rely on drones to get my stuff done, so
I'm pissed off that they suck so much in regards
(27:06):
to getting drones out there. I really wish they would
do a better job at that. Colin says, I can't
make the peace shiny and too clean. That'd be erased
in the history, like you said exactly. Bobby Carey says,
how do you go about locating abandoned places that you're
allowed to shoot inside? That's cute. I think it would
(27:26):
be badass to photograph an athlete in an abandoned place. Okay,
number one, any time that I'm in an abandoned place,
virtually anytime i'm breaking in, I don't pretend that i'm
not I don't pretend that I'm getting access I'm not
the only time I've ever had access is when I
was shooting. When I was doing the project that six
(27:48):
Flags New Orleans, I had that access because I had
broken in and been arrested for doing that, and that
may be kind of famous in the world of six
Flags New Orleans. And so because of doing that, when
the group that's associated with Tyler paying all that, when
they wanted to build a movie studio out there, they
asked me to come out and shoot that for them
and shoot their executive team. That's what got me involved
in that project. Outside of that, like the stuff that
(28:11):
I was just doing in San Francisco, I'm breaking in now.
I have certain rules. I call them Dexter rules, meaning
you know Dexter for those who watch the Murder show,
he has rules for killing people. He will only kill
someone if it's a bad guy. He has to make
sure it's a bad guy. I kinda have Dexter rules
for breaking into places, meaning I don't I don't break
(28:33):
stuff in. I don't break down doors, I don't pick locks,
I don't break windows. I got to have access into
the place, So it's got to be something that I
can access in without me having breaking so I will
enter a place, but I'm not going to do breaking
and entering. I'm gonna skip the breaking part and just
do the entering. So that's kind of those are kind
of my rules. But like the warehouses that I was
(28:55):
just breaking into in in Berkeley, you know, I had
to cross roilad tracks, I had to go through holes
in the fence, and then I would go in. And
then when you go in there, just keep in mind.
You know, there's all sorts of ne'er do wells in there.
There's usually people sleeping in there, there's usually people stealing stuff.
(29:16):
There's there's the place that I was in they were
holding raves and uh, and you will find some weird stuff.
I don't recommend doing it if you don't have a
lot of experience, and I would recommend going with people,
especially if you're females. That's not a sexist comment, that's
just me being realistic. Just because people are crazy and
(29:39):
just because you're a dude doesn't mean you're going to
be safe either. Just take care of yourself, be safe
and and be mindful, and don't be stupid when you
go into these abandoned places. Guys, for the love of goodness,
stop running around and making a bunch of noise like acclimate.
I always tell people when they first get into an
(29:59):
abandoned space acclimate, that's the first thing I'll do. I'll
walk into a demand in space and I'll just stand
there and listen. And a lot of times people like,
what are you doing? I said, I'm listening. I'm actually learning.
I'm training my brain. What's a natural sound. I want
to know if when the wind picks up and it,
you know, and there's aluminum siding, if if there's something
(30:20):
that has a pattern to it. I'm listening for patterns,
anything that's repetitive. I'm listening for anything like that, so
I can know when it's just nature or natural occurrences
that are causing that sound versus somebody's in the building.
And when somebody is in the building, by the way
I go and approach them, I do not run from them.
(30:41):
I've been with people and they want to run away
from when they see people. That's the worst thing you
can do. You do not want to run away from
people unless they're you know, you know, they have a chainsaw.
But outside of that, to me, it's much better to
make yourself known and to make let people know that
you're not afraid of them and that you know who
they are. And if you ever get into a really
bad spot and you're an abandoned place or any sort
(31:02):
of an endangered environment, which I've been in many, many times,
including when I ran from the car tail and everything else,
if you're really in a bad spot, live stream And
I know that sounds funny, but pick up your phone
and live stream. Don't just record it. Just recording it.
They can just get your phone and dump it in
the ocean. But if you live stream it, you've now
put their face on the Internet and they can get caught.
(31:27):
And if you tell them I'm live streaming you, you
better stop, you better back up. Yeah, they can decide
what to do from there. But at least that you've
done the most that you can outside of you, you know,
Jackie channing it, you know, and go in Bakersfield chimp
on somebody. Anyway, that was a big, big rabbit hole.
(31:47):
I'm sorry, as I much as I love my R
six Mark two, my fifty megapixels, Rebel T five I
pictures look dream me and make me want to go
back to DSLRs. Oh, I don't know I mean, that's
just a personal preference. And if you love DSLRs, go
back to them. And nobody's married or anything. You can
do whatever you want. This is the best photographer on
(32:09):
earth other than me. Whoever said that is right, except
I'm better than that person, So that's awesome. Man. I
wish Sony would get all of their hardware done back
in Japan and get rid of the China locations. I
cannot afford newer cameras at seventy three. I I just
(32:30):
hope we get all these trade issues and everything fixed,
because I just want to get some drones back where
Sony gets their stuff done. As long as there's availability
and it's at good competitive pricing, that's what That's what
I'm mostly concerned with. Nola DJ says he's another buddy
of mine over over there, in over their New Orleans.
(32:54):
We don't break in, we walk in. This is right.
It's a gentle stroll. It's a stroll that you take
into these abandoned locations. And you you, you, you know,
don't act like an idiot. Crystal better to ask for
give us and permission one hundred. You know that's right,
Sister Dean Federoff two abandoned places, Transalitting Lunatic Asylum, I've
(33:18):
been there, and the West Virginia Abandoned sci cress and Prison.
I have not been to the abandoned prison, the cress
In prison. That sounds like a cool place, but I've
definitely been to transalitt Lunatic Asylum and I picked up
some paranormal stuff there. Do you guys remember all that
crazy stuff I used to do? I did, like paranormal
stuff we are capturing EVPs. I mean, I really did
(33:41):
some crazy stuff, and that's what I want to start
doing again. I want to get back to all that
craziness and fun because I've missed it. I'm so so
grateful that I did Six Flags New Orleans and I
did the Border project. Those were transformational projects for me
and my life, my career. I'm so grateful that I
did them. But I'm also just as excited to get
back to some of this crazy stuff. That's what I
(34:03):
want to do. Ever, get troubleshooting at an abandoned place
and then you're trying to sell the photo for commercies
without permission of the property. Depends on who you're trying
to sell it to. Honestly, no is the best answer.
(34:25):
If you try to sell an abandoned I mean technically
the owner of the property, if they wanted to get
really litigious, they could come back, but they would have
to prove when you took it. They'd have to prove
that they had ownership. They'd have to prove that you
didn't have permission to take that picture. There's a lot
of things that they would have to prove because the
inherent copyright to any images is owned by the photographer.
(34:45):
And so no, I've never had any issues like that.
John says. It shows the difference. It shows you the
difference between pre COVID and now. You never had much
trouble when you were doing the photo shooting the missile
Sito here in Colorado. Well, the missile silo, I think
that's when I was with Maddie and I fell and
(35:06):
broke my knee open, dashed my knee open. That was
pretty disgusting, and I and for some insane reason, I
went and I still did the photo shoot. That was
That was pretty That was pretty awesome stuff. But yeah, no,
it's but it also depends. It also depends, like you
(35:26):
used to be able to go into a lot of
places in Detroit and do some really cool stuff, but
now Detroit's been locked up. Pretty much. What it boils
down to is you have to get into a place
before photographers like me going and put it all over
the place and then ruin it. I mean, I've been
arrested many, many times at these places. I've been arrested.
I mean, I could tell some stories, but I've been
surrounded by cops, I had guns up my face, put
(35:49):
in jail. I've had some stuff for real. It's been crazy,
but it's all been for stupid stuff like that. Nothing else.
But yeah, I can tell you, yeah, some stories if
I ever write a book. Some days pretty wild. Hey Jayson,
you're a half marathon video hit me harder than any
photo tip. Are you still racing? I run five halves
since then? Keep sharing the real you. Your stories inspires
(36:11):
more than you know. I really appreciate that, you know people.
For those who don't know, I I've lost one hundred
pounds and that was that was quite a journey for me,
and it's still a struggle for me. I still struggle
every day with it. And for those who don't know,
I have my hip replaced and and you know, and
(36:33):
I have two bad ankles, and I'm still doing crazy
stuff like throwing fireworks and shooting demolition and doing really
insane stuff because I love it. So it really is
a mind over matter thing for me. Am. I still
moving around and doing all that. Absolutely, But what I
would tell anybody else more than anything in regards to
(36:55):
you know, maybe if you guys are interested, I do
a video on how I lost all the weight and
everything else that I do, because it's not it's not
just a matter of movement. It's a matter of if
you have to change the way that you eat and
what you do. And you know, there's been models that
I've worked with over the years, other photographers. I certainly
don't say, hey, you're fat. You should really lose some weight.
Let me give you some tips because I used to
be a fat ass. That's not what I do. What
(37:17):
I do say is hey, you know, like if they
bring it up and they say, hey, you've lost a
lot of weight, how did you do it? I I
do you want to pass on anything. And it's not
that anything that I have to share is earth shattering,
like it's like this new science. It's not Ozmpic. It's
just a matter of this is how I got there.
But more importantly, it's not how you lose the weight,
(37:38):
it's how you keep it off. That's really the hard part,
and that comes down to lifestyle changes. And it's not
rocket science. And I'm not going to go on and
on with it, but but if people want to know
more about it, I definitely could could help you out
with that. But thank you ballroom photographer. I really appreciate that.
One thing I will One more thing I will say
(37:59):
on the weight a lot, though, is that wasn't just
a matter of the way that I looked and it
was Losing the weight has such a dramatic impact on
how you feel about yourself when you're overweight. You pretend
that it doesn't and you talk about body confidence and
you talk about I should be okay with who I
am that I'm just gonna keep it real. I'm just
(38:22):
gonna keep it real. And people get angry at me
for this, But nobody likes being fat. Nobody likes being
really overweight. And I know that that sounds harsh, but
even the people who say they embrace it. You'll notice
the celebrities, you know, what the what's that one chick?
(38:43):
I don't know guy that I can't remember. I'm spacing out.
I can see her face, but I can't. I can't
remember her name right now, I really can't. But even
when you see them, they'll always miract when they talk. Well,
they'll make these music videos about body positivity and how
it's okay to be what they are. But then you'll
see them a year or two and they've lost all
this weight and I'm like, Okay, so yeah, that really
wasn't real. In other words, we all feel better and
(39:06):
forget about the way that you look, and forget about
your confidence for a minute, if you want to put
that to the side. It's also how it just enables
you to live a better life, not only from the
internal perspective of breathing and the way that you feel
and all that, but just walking. Just for me, the
thing that was the most important was if I had
to make the decision that if I was going to
(39:28):
live a life as a photographer up into my sixty seventies,
because I'm going to shoot until I die, y'all. If
I was going to do that, I had to change
the way that I that I was from body perspective.
My body couldn't handle the weight, especially when you're already
packing on thirty forty pounds of gear when you're walking places.
My body just could not do it, and so that's
(39:50):
why I changed. And that takes a big commitment to
do that. And anybody who has seen me personally over
the last couple of years knows when you watch me walk,
especially now that I had the hip replacement, there is
a significant limp that I have. My limp is now
worse after my hip replacement because they made my leg
that has a hip replacement anch and a half longer.
(40:12):
So I walk like freaking pirate. But when I watched
the videos of me walking, I'm like, is it really
that bad? But at least I'm not in pain, so
I feel good. So what I'm getting at is take
care of yourselves, y'all, and if it helps it, I
can produce some videos that inspire other people out there
to take on that journey, then I'm happy to do
(40:33):
that if that, If that is helpful, I'm thinking of
upgrading my A sixty seven hundred to an A seven
R five. If it's not a good price, No, don't
get the A seven R five. Don't get a good
get the seven four. Do not get You want my vice,
that's my vice. Don't get a seven R five. Not
only not only is the one hundred and twenty megapixels,
(40:54):
and yes you can shoot small raw I get it.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. You don't need it.
You don't need it, So for me, you can take that.
You know, A seven to four is the sweet spot
that thirty six megapixels. It's so much faster to edit,
it takes up so much less space. That would be
my recommendation. You definitely should write a book. I probably
(41:19):
will at some point. Jason, we have a closed down
prison in Rome, New York. If you want to try
and sneak in and get shots, that sounds like fun.
I'll have to get some information. I would definitely love
to do that. If you have inspired so many with
your weight loss, thank you, Susan. That's very kind of you.
I appreciate that Jay speak the truth man on nobody
likes to be fat. I can certainly confirm that it is.
(41:45):
It's the truth people talk about, Hey I'm this on that,
but nobody likes to be fat. Yes, you had some
really bad luck at the Missile Sila but what you
had was tenacity, guts and the willingness to simply move forward,
and you got the photographs you needed. It was your soul. Yep, Man,
mine over matter, when people say to me all the time,
because I run around with a bunch of twenty some
(42:06):
odd old people. Right, you just have more energy than
I do. I've never met anybody who has who will
work longer than I do. I've never met a single person,
not one. It's not a bragging thing. It's just fat.
And it has nothing to do with my adrenal glands.
It has nothing to do with uh. I mean, my
(42:27):
body hurts. I mean a normal daily app A daily
thing for me is eat some food and chug four advils.
Because that's how I'm gonna make it. It's desire. You gotta
want it more than other people, and that's just what
it boils down to. There's just no other way to
put it. Your will will overcome your body if you
(42:51):
try hard enough, and if you lose the weight that
makes it easier to do that. Jason, happy to see
you live and can't wait to see more videos. Well,
thank you, Trinny Max Adventure. I appreciate that Crystal says,
I would have never known you were overweight by the
way you were climbing the way we were climbing around
the megaz EPHYRT. Yeah, you wouldn't know it, right, And
(43:15):
I appreciate that, Crystal, But I used to be quick story.
You know, my come to Jesus moment on my weight
was I was in Homer, Alaska, and I was gonna
go shoot the bears with my camera, not a gun.
I don't want to go kill bears just for fun.
That's not my thing. And I walk in. I'm gonna
be a little bit time with the story because it's
(43:35):
kind of funny to me. But this was my come
to Jesus moment, and I had to wake up. I
walked in, and you know, I'm a big, big tubble
ard and I walk into this little I think it's
called the Salty Dog Saloon. I'm not making this up.
If you've ever been to Homeer, Alaska, you know it's
a tiny little spit of land and it's just beautiful area.
But you walk in in the morning and you have
(43:57):
to do a way in and I walk in, and
of course, since I'm fat, I'm already self conscious that
I'm walking in and I see a scale on the ground.
I'm like, oh my gosh, why is there a scale? Right?
So I'm thinking, okay, Jason, how many donuts have you
had recently? What have you been eating recently? You know what?
What's what's going on with you? Uh? You know? Are
you gonna make? And then it says on the it
says on the wall, you know, max passenger capacity including
(44:20):
gear is three hundred pounds. I'm good, There's just there's
no way. I am good, there's no I'm gonna have
no problem. And so I look at that scale and
it's literally like you hear in the movies. There's this
music playing as I'm watching one person at my party
after another walk up to that scale and everybody's like
(44:43):
two twenty two, forty two, sixty one, ninety one fifty
whatever it may be. And then when it's my turn, thinking,
can I go to the bathroom real quick so I
can like urinate out any of the excess fat that
I may have in my body. And so I step
on the scale and I watched the number go and
I'm like, holy crap, you better stop. And it gets it,
(45:05):
I am not exaggerating, gets it to ninety eight, and
the lady looks at me, she goes, whoof, he barely
made it. And I stepped and I stepped off the scale,
and I thought, holy crap, Jason, you're so fat that
you're not gonna be able to take You can't even
(45:26):
go on a helicopter because that's the reason they had
to weigh you. They had to make sure that, you know,
they have to make sure that the weight is distributed
proportionately inside of the aircraft, and if you're a certain weight,
you're just gonna make a helicopter crash. So I was like,
you know what, that was my moment of stop making excuses.
(45:48):
Oh I have a slow metabolism. Oh I have a
disabled body. Oh I'm legally disabled. Who cares? Crocodile tears
aren't gonna help. You want to make a change, make it.
That's it. And I made a change, and I've lost
a lot of weight and it's really improved my life.
And now when I want to, you know, go do
an excursion like that, I'm not worried that I'm going
(46:08):
to get excluded because i'm too overweight. So anybody who's
watching this who's overweight, who struggles with it. Y'all know
exactly what I'm talking about, and you know exactly the
feelings that I'm communicating. It's very palpable, and y'all know
where I'm coming from is a very real place. And
there's a lot of pain that goes into being overweight,
(46:28):
and you will release a lot of that pain when
you get rid of the weight. I'm promising you it
will have a profound impact, not just on your body,
but on your soul. That's a fact, all right, A
seven four it is. That's what I needed to hear.
Thanks man, You're welcome. Plus you're going to save some money,
have you or do you now a days? Have any
(46:50):
problems shooting models with tattoos and copyright bs and have
artists try to sue you and how to deal with it?
You mean, if some tattoo artist wants to sue you them,
that's what I would say to that. So no, if
it's on their bodies, I can shoot it, and I
can post it, and I can make money with it
as long as I have my ducks in a row
(47:11):
with the model. So I'm not worried about a tattoo artist.
That person can go pound sand Courtney says, you helped
me tremendously, not only my way but positive thinking. I
will always be grateful for that. Oh, Courtney, you know
I love you. You know I do. And I'm always
going to be grateful for the time we spent together
in New Orleans and the other stuff that we're going
to do moving forward. But I'm really grateful that I
(47:32):
was able to help you. And for those who haven't
spent time with me, you'll know that this is kind
of who I am. If you're around me, you're going
to get an inspirational positive talk. It's just it just
spills out of me. So Nola DJ says same here dude,
as a positive force. We thank you. Thank you so
much for being here. I appreciate all of you. I'm
(47:54):
grateful for all of you for being here, and I
hope that this has been beneficial. Until next time, keep shooting,
never give up on any dreams. Find agether works for you,
and remember you only have one chance to get it right.
Make sure to subscribe to the podcast. Make sure to
give me a rating on the podcast if you can,
and write a review it really helps. Thumbs up these videos,
and do everything that you can and make this to
(48:15):
help us grow here so we can get this this
channel up and run it again. So thanks again, guys.
I love you and I will talk to you later.
So it's the next time. Keep shooting, never give up
on your dreams. Find agether the works for you to remember,
you only have one chance to get it right. I'll
talk to you guys later. Peeve subscribe to my YouTube
channel so you get notified. Make sure to click on
the notification so the next time we do one of
these live streams, you can get on there live with
(48:36):
me and ask me anything as well. If you enjoy
this podcast, please do me a huge favor. It'll take
you thirty seconds. Go on to Apple Podcasts, give me
a five star rating and write a review. We want
to make this podcast blow up and I need your
help to do that. So thank you so much in
advance for doing that for me. I really appreciate it
and enjoy the podcast. I'll talk to you guys later.
(48:57):
Pease
Hey guys, welcome to Jason Lenair Photography Unfiltered. This podcast
is related to an ask Me Anything session that I
did where I asked my fans, my followers, you guys
out there. I opened it up on my YouTube channel
to a live stream and gave you the opportunity to
ask me anything. This is a really fun session. I
know you're gonna love it. Here's a little previews to
(00:22):
what we got into. It was a lot of fun.
Everything's going to be affected by AI. What AI does,
if you all want to know the truth is it
pushes out the eighty percent of people who shouldn't be photographers. Sorry,
not sorry. Do you want my vice? That's my vice.
We'll get a seven or five. I don't care what
you do. You can't fight innovation and change. I kind
(00:44):
of have dexter rules for breaking into places. I will
enter a place, but I'm not going to do breaking
and entering. I'm gonna skip the breaking part and just
do the entering. And let's be honest, every drone sucks
except DJI. And I hate to say it, but I
don't even know if there's anything close to a DJI,
and that's bad. That's bad. I wish somebody would make
some damn drones so we could get our work done.
(01:06):
Crocodile tears aren't going to help. You want to make
a change, make it. That's it. You walk in in
the morning and you have to do a way in
and I walk in, and of course, since I'm fat,
I'm already self conscious that I'm walking in and I
see a scale on the grounder, I'm like, my gosh,
why is there a scale? You do not want to
run away from people unless they're you know, you know
they have a chainsaw. All right, You've heard the preview.
(01:30):
Now listen to the full length podcast and enjoy. Thanks
for being a listener. Hello, my friends, this is a
Jason Lener here. I am going to do a and
ask me anything session here on my channel. When and
where are your next workshops? From Dean I am working
on providing. I'm coming out with a whole slew of
(01:51):
workshops and it's it. I'm going to be announcing that
this month as to when and where they're going to be.
I'm working on just a variety of different kinds of
workshops and one thing that I'm going to be providing
that as a brand new kind of workshop that I
haven't done before is I am going to be doing
a series of workshop series on teaching photographers on how
(02:14):
to do great workshops. I've read a lot of you know,
I've been doing workshops for the last fifteen years, and
you know, when you do them that long, and I've
done them successfully, very successfully, and when you do them
that long, you learn a lot. You learn what to
do and want not to do. And I've read some
horror stories from you know, travels and things that people
(02:35):
have had go wrong for them, and so I was
talking with my family about it, and I thought, you know,
it could be really cool. I did actually help photographers
know how to do good workshops, especially once you get
into international workshops, you get into you know, travel logistics,
things of that nature can get really tough. I also
thought it would be potentially a great way to help
(02:57):
people understand where they're at and if they're really ready
to start doing workshops, because you know, you have to
you have to have some self awareness if you're going
to succeed, and especially if you're going to take people's
money and train them. I mean, people's money in their
time is very valuable, and so to that end, that
is one thing that I'm striving to do, and I
(03:18):
really hope that it that it helps. But if you
have any requests, like somebody says Wisconsin, if you have
any requests and things that you'd like for me to do,
please let me know. I would certainly love to hear
them from you. I just got a Sony A seven
four and A seven R five. Do you think the
Sigma eighty five one point four would be a great
lens for them? I do you know? A Sigma Sigma
(03:42):
Art lenses are great lenses, they really are. I do
prefer the A seven four over the A seven R five.
I've just shot with both of them very recently. I
shoot with the A seven four all the time. It's
my go to camera. But my buddy Steve has the
R five up in San Francisco where I've met, and
I've been shooting with his you know, quite a bit.
(04:02):
For By the way, I do have new review videos
coming out with the Sony twenty eight to seventy and
the Sony fifty to one fifty if you're if you're interested.
I've also reached out to be an h Photo and
they're going to be sending me any gear that I
want to test out. So if you guys have any
requests on gear that you'd like me to test from
any brand, let me know. Being acheill send it to
me and I'll be able to test that for you guys.
(04:24):
So I'm really looking to get things ramped up to
the way that they used to be now that I'm
you know, out of the you know, constraints of the
projects that I was working on, and I really hope
that is beneficial to all of you out there. I
really do. I want to run the channel and have
fun again with you guys. But do I think that
lens would be great? Yeah, I really do. You know,
(04:45):
it's not going to be as good as a G
Master lens the eighty five for one point four G
Master Those are just a little bit better quality from
a sharpness perspective, But honestly, you know, the price differential
between the Art Lenses and the G Master is pretty
substanti and the quality isn't as big as the price differential.
So you know, if nobody, if you don't care about money,
(05:06):
or if you're well off, get a G Master if
you really, you know, want a big bang for your buck.
The Art Lenses are a great way to go. Hi, Jason,
are you still using you believe in me? We'll say
that's Courtney. Well, thank you, Courtney. I very much believe
in you too, and I think you know why, Hi Jason,
(05:27):
you're still using the same flashes I'm using primarily goat
ocs UH usually rolling around with two of the what
you gonna call it, uh, I have a flashpoint exploring,
then I have to go docs eighty six hundred pro
and I'm primarily using those. I'm not using a lot
(05:49):
of rotal light now. And you guys, if you have
more questions about that, I'm more happy to answer that.
But you know, rod a light, Yeah, I can answer
that if you guys are instead I I don't need
to take down that rabbit hole if you're not interested.
But no, I'm not using a lot of WORDLFE simply
because well, they went out of business and now they've restructured,
and so I think that's the fastest and easiest way
(06:12):
to put it. Have you looked at e voter for editing?
That's a great question. That's an AI platform for editing.
And actually this platform that I'm using here, which is Riverside,
is another AI platform, and so it is very fascinating
for us to be able to use AI. I think
that's the only way we can make it as creative
is if we incorporate the AI into our workflow. We're
(06:38):
not going to be able to make it if we
are not working hard with AI. And you guys know,
I'm big into innovation. I always have been, from switching
from DSLR to Mirrorless, and you guys all know that story.
And now when you go from you know, when you're
looking at the AI and you can get frustrated about it,
(06:59):
I have fun with it. I mean, here's the thing
that y'alling do you think about. AI isn't going anywhere,
just like meritless wasn't going anywhere, Meaning you're not going
to be able to fight it. I don't care what
you do. You can't fight innovation and change. So if
you don't find a way to adapt, you will become extinct.
It's that simple. So if you don't want to be
one of the guys who went extinct with the film cameras,
(07:19):
don't talk to me about the zero point one percent
of people who you know were the best at their
craft and they found a niche and they're still in business.
I'm talking about ninety percent of people that go out
of business because they don't adapt. If you don't adapt,
you're going to go out of business. It's that simple.
This is true of any industry, travel industry, technology industry,
service industry. If you don't adapt, you die. So if
(07:42):
you want to make it in the world of photography, adapt.
If you're a photographer, Hi, Jason, I'm thinking of starting
a YouTube channel based around photography. Where would you start?
Any advice is appreciated from Bobby Carey. What's up, Crystal,
I would say, first and foremost, if you're starting a
(08:02):
YouTube channel, that's a wonderful question. Okay, First off, make
sure you start it and and you do a YouTube
channel that is based around things that people love, but
more importantly, things that you love. Your job as a
YouTuber if you want to be able to do it
(08:22):
long term is if you are trying to cater to
what other people want. You may get a YouTube you
may you may develop a YouTube channel that is some
most successful, but you're not going to develop a YouTube
channel that you like to do. So I've been doing
YouTube now forever, right, and yes, I've taken a hiatus
to do other projects. But now I'm coming back to
it because I really do love doing it. I do
(08:43):
love photography. I love the crazy videos I do. I
love the adventures that I do. And we're going to
get into all that other kind of stuff. So the
point is, if you are going to create a YouTube channel,
what do you love to do, Bobby? What do you
love that that you could put to film. The other
thing I would say is, if you're gonna do a
YouTube channel, make life a lot easier for yourself. Film
(09:04):
things with the iPhone. I own four iPhones and that's
how I film all of my content. I don't film
using Sony's it's a waste of time. I film using
three sixty cameras, drones and iPhones. That's how I film
all my content. And I'm talking for major documentaries and
stuff like that. You'd be amazed the things that you
can do with those cameras, the places you can put them,
(09:25):
and the content that you can create by using that
kind of technology. So I would definitely do that instead
of setting up a Sony and getting a big ass
gimbal and all that. I'm not doing that. It's a
waste of time and money again, Crystal. Hello Dave, great
to see you. Great to see YouTube. Dave, welcome back brother.
(09:46):
Thank you. Mark. Which cameras are you using these days?
I'm using the primarily the Sony A seven four, the
R five. Okay, I'm just I remember being with Emily,
we're talking seven years ago. We're in Gary, Indiana shooting
at some all the banded hospital, and I was doing
(10:07):
a review vide for the R four and I really
pissed off Sony because I said that this focus sucked
on A seven R four and it does, okay, and
then that's why I didn't go with our series. And
then when I just messed around with my buddy Steve's camera,
He's gonna get pissed off when I said this, but
I told it to his face as well as the
R five sucks too. Now, people are gonna get angry
that I say that, But it's all comparatively speaking. When
(10:29):
you compare the R five focus to the A seven
four focus at A seven four focus is better, I
have no reason. I have no clear understanding as to
why the focus sucks when there's better resolution in the cameras.
Because when I shot with the Fuji FX one hundred,
I didn't have those focus issues, but Fuji doesn't focus
as well as Sony, So that's not fair either, because
(10:51):
when it comes to focus, you know, that's what Sony
was known for, and it's one of the main reasons
I shot with them for so long is because their
focus was so good. And to me, that's the main
purpose of a camera. Don't talk to me about color
science and all that other stuff. You can easily change
that in post. The things that matter to me from
an efficiency standpoint to be able to deliver consistently great product.
(11:12):
And for that camera, that camera's job is to help
me get great shots and the story. That camera's job
is to take what's in my brain and put it
into a digital format so I can put it online,
print it, do whatever I want with it. Any tool
that helps me deliver that image in my brain and
converts that into a digital form, it converts it into
(11:35):
something that can be a tangible good. That's what I
want to use, and any any tool that helps me
do that more efficiently will get my will get my vote.
So I'm still not a fan of our series, not
to mention the fact I think it's overkill. I don't
think you need it. Most people. Sony didn't like it
when I called the A one camera steak sauce. I
(11:57):
think it's a stupid name. Number one and number two.
I think that, and I'm still a Sony shooter. I'm
not hating on Sony, but I do know a lot
about Sony, which is why I mentioned it. But what
I'm getting at is find the right tool that works
for you. Find the right you know, you guys would
know my videos finder gear works for you. But the
point is, you know, that's why I used a SUM four.
(12:18):
I love it. In fact, I just shot a video
in Los Angeles that's really cool, and you know it's
I'm going to name the video, you know, getting great
shots for crappy gear, and I took out my old
original Sony A nine. I put a few of my
old Sony's ice lenses on it, and I shot it
with the old flash Point six hundred Explore with the
(12:39):
old do you guys remember this, the Westcott halo, You
remember that, remember that old ass modifier. I put that
through the umbrella thread on the Explore six hundred and
did some really cool shots. So you're gonna see that
video dropping real soon. What if photography won't be affected
by AI, as the photos must be from the actual event. Don't.
(13:02):
Don't everything's going to be affected by AI. Everything, and
so don't sell AI shore. That's where we make mistakes,
is where we say, you know, this can't replace that. Now,
I personally believe that the way to incorporate and to
be able to be successful as a photographer is to,
(13:26):
to your point, take people, to take specific people to
specific locations and you for you to shoot them in
a certain way. That's the one way to make things
that are unique. So what AI does, if you all
want to know the truth, is it pushes out the
eighty percent of people who shouldn't be photographers. Sorry not sorry.
(13:46):
It forces people to be more competitive and better. So
if you want to make it in the world of AI,
be unique. It's kind of that simple. I recently sold
my A six thousand, which I had since you mentioned
us to us on YouTube years ago, and I'm regretting it.
I do have an A seven R five and a Fuji
XM five, but I really missed that A six thousand. Now,
(14:09):
A six thousand still a monster for the price, for
the size, For all of that, A six thousand is
still still a little little beast. When am I going
to release my classes? I should release there by classes
are going to be released this month. I am going
to get them out this month. I'm here to learn lighting.
Natural light sucks. Well, I'm glad you're here to learn lighting.
(14:32):
I just was in I posted this on my stories
on Instagram. I was in this warehouse with the model
two days ago. There's this light streaming in and I
got one reflector and I bounced that light that came in.
And it's a very very tall warehouse. The light came
in from a shaft where a ventilator fan would be
(14:54):
and it shot down one hundred feet and I bounced
it off the ground using a reflector onto the model
and the shots a wild. So you're gonna see that video.
It's really cool stuff. Did I get my drone fixed
from Miss Crystal Cadaver? No. Dji's got some spy stuff
going on with with Trump and and everything else. I
(15:15):
don't know what's going on with dj I now. In
all fairness, dj I was having stalking issues prior to
Trump getting elected, so I don't know what their issues are.
You cannot get drones these days, it's ridiculous. I wreck
my drones more often than you know most people, you know,
brush their teeth and that's pretty gross. But I do.
(15:39):
I do wreck my drones a lot because I do
crazy things with them. And I have three of the
many four pros and they're they're all. I need a
Frankenstein them. But I need, I need, I need some
like nerd to really, you know, help me with because
I need to hack that crap because my drone will
(16:00):
not get out of that stupid there's some error code
mode where overheats. You guys ever had the stupid drone
where it goes into attitude mode and it literally flies
off and crashes. Well, that's what happens with my damn drones. Man,
these drones piss me off, but I do love them.
I was with Courtney at six Flags during a snowstorm
(16:21):
and I flew the drone into the ferris wheel. That
was awesome, but I ended up getting that drone backed
all right, next sports photography. I have a drone, iPhone
and phone, gibble and Dji Mini mics yep, yep, DJ
is great stuff, but they cannot get they cannot get
their drones out. Adrian Day the master has returned. Well,
(16:42):
thank you, glad to see your back and looking. Life
is treating you okay, yep, life's treating me great. Just
stopping from the UK question, what's your best what's your
take on the best way to sell images in twenty
twenty five? Wow, cell images be unique? And I know
that sounds like a really generic answer, but you have
to do things at other people can't do, especially in
a day and age where people get their iPhones, they
(17:04):
take a picture. You can erase, people, remove, people, do whatever,
and you can edit it. You can put fake skis
and you can do blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah. So that's where you're lighting. That's where
your location, and that's where your composition and your ability
to post somebody really come into play. Also your ability
to storytell and to be able to extrapolate and tell
(17:26):
a story when you're in these environments and you're shooting.
If you're able to do that, you can be far
more successful. Because you know, as much as AI is
going to keep getting better every single day, every single
day it's gonna start, it's going to keep getting better.
That being said, you know they're still there's still robot images.
(17:49):
So when I go in, like Crystal and Courtney, two
models that are on this stream that I've mentioned, both
of them, I love both of them. They're both amazing models,
and I've worked with both of them extensively. Like some
of the shots that we've gotten at six Flags and
other places, you know, the stories and everything that we
bring together to create those images, that's what makes it unique.
(18:10):
It's that we shot it at six Flags, It's the
props that we use, it's the costuming, it's everything else
that is unique. Like if you just plugged in, hey,
put a model at the Farriswool at six Flags New Orleans,
people would be like, I mean, Ai'll pump out something,
but it's going to be pretty generic. So that's my point.
(18:31):
Get unique with your work and then find a niche
find people that love it. Like I was talking about
that YouTube channel, your job as a creator isn't to
try to appeal to everyone. Your job is to put
your stuff out there and find people who who you
appeal to. So let your audience find you. You have
to work hard for them to find you. But my
point is, do you and attract the people that are
(18:55):
attracted to you, all right, what are your go to lenses?
What are your go to lenses you use the most,
says Uritannian Photography. My go to lenses that I use
the most are woof that fifty to one fifty is
(19:15):
a monster lens. That thing's beast. That twenty to seventies
monster lens. They vignette. Both lenses vignette, but you know,
it is what it is. They're lighter than the cannon versions.
But those yeah, those are great lenses. But me personally,
it's always going to be the fifty. I love a
fifty millimeter lens. I love a thirty five m b
(19:36):
b buh, fifty thirty five. I mean I could keep
going fourteen, twenty twenty four, I mean, up and down
the list. But what do I use the most? What
gets the most work from my my cameras to fifty
millimeters thirty five and the eighty five u BO with
Tracy Blackwell, So good to see you back. The podcast
(19:58):
is Greate as well. Well, thank you, Tree, see that's
pretty kind of you. Much love. I hope, I hope
you're not offended that I gave you a kiss, yo,
Jason glad to see your streaming. How's your work in
New Orleans going? Hope you're doing well. Oh and I'm
getting the track piece you sent me clean by an expert.
Oh my gosh, it's expensive. This is Colin. Colin came
(20:20):
to my workshop in New Orleans and uh, you know,
I worked with the powers that be there to get
him a piece of the old megaz F track and
so that is at his house. And that's pretty awesome.
I'm happy for you. I don't know why you're getting
a clean that's history, baby boy. You're taking my fingerprints
off it. Shame on you. But you know I love
you Colling. I'm just having fun with you. But that's awesome. Uh.
(20:44):
In regards to the park, the park is currently in
a complete stalemate. Uh. And they've they've taken a good
amount of the waist out of the park, but the
park there has been no demolition since April when I left.
So when I left, demolitions stopped, and three months later
there has been no progress on the demolition. And that's
(21:05):
where it sits right now. The park is currently about
fifty percent gone. That's where it sits. What's your favorite
niche in photography? That's tough. I'm very hard to focus.
That's that's one of my key problems. But I do
love I love shooting models. I love the freedom of
(21:28):
going into these abandoned places and doing that kind of stuff.
But I also love documentaries, and that's you know, that's
why I did the Six Flags project as well as
the Border project. The Border project that I did would
piss off anybody, no matter what your political affiliations are.
So I kind of think that I did something right
in doing that, because my goal in doing any sort
(21:51):
of a photojournalistic endeavor is to be able to provide
the truth just from an observational standpoint, and I hope
that people see it as well. Greetings from Germany. Everybody
reached for forty two to sixty two megapixels, but it
as an amateur photographer, is it okay? Twenty four megapixels
APSC Alpha six A six thousand. Yeah, man, Well, I'm
(22:15):
I would consider myself top pro I think a lot
of people would. I'm not shooting for forty two to
sixty two megapixels. I think it's overkill, especially in today's
day and age, where there's very very little that's actually
going to print. I think it's complete overkill. And that's
one of the reasons I just did that shoot where
I said I did it using quote unquote crappy gear
shooting with the twenty four megapixel Sony A nine, the original.
(22:38):
You can absolutely shoot with an A nine and or
a twenty four megapixel camera and get great results one
hundred percent. I've been shooting now with film again for
two years, and I've noticed the market's just exploding. What
are your feelings and what are your shooting thoughts on
shooting any film? Shooting film is going to explode. It's
just like how you know, it's funny when I run
(23:00):
around with models, which is all the time. When I
run around with models, nine times out of ten, what
they the one camera? They won't have any cameras outside
of their iPhone, but the one camera that they will
have will be like the Fuji Kodak whatever, their little
Kodak version of Fuji, right. They love to do that.
And the kids these days love the little you know,
insta camera whatever stuff. Everybody loves something nostalgic, and that's
(23:24):
really what it boils down to. In fact, another trend
going around is people love like the ninety the really
crappy two to four megapixel digital original digital versions of
you know, digital cameras. They love that.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Why do they love it Because their life missed that
chunk of evolutionary process in photography. So they love to
go back to anything that didn't include them so they
can experience it for themselves.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
They'll go and shoot it for a little while, they'll
see how cool it is. Until it sucks. I don't
know how else to say it. Now. Film is not
in that necessarily in that same vein because film the
resolution is there. So that's what I'm not saying, film sucks.
What I am saying is there's always going to be
a niche for film. It's always going to be a
(24:13):
small niche. But there will always be a niche for film.
It's just not going to ever be huge. That would
be my take. It's been eight years since I saw
you last, but I'm glad to see you back on YouTube.
YouTube was not as reliable back then, and your channel
is looking good. Well, thank you. I appreciate that very much.
My hat, by the way, this thing has got to go.
(24:35):
It has got to get replaced. But my hat. I'm
just saying this because I'm looking at it. I'm looking
at my hat for the people listening to the podcast.
It looks like it's been run over by a train,
and you know it belongs in the a museum for asbestos.
That comes with good reason. It's because of the fact
that I've been shooting with it and using it at
(24:55):
Six Flags. But I don't get rid of my hats.
My hats have certain sections of my life where I
can created work. This is my Six Flags hat. My
son told me he's got me a new hat for
Father's Day. Still waiting on that. I think it's a
month he's a month late. But we'll see what happens.
But I need a new hat. But no, I appreciate that.
Thank you as always great advice. What I've been I've
(25:18):
been with you since your days before the Sony Day.
Is very grateful for your input. You are so welcome, Adoran,
thank you for being here, my man, Susan Tanitsu missed
you over here in Ozzie Land. Oh I love Ozzie Land.
I got to get back. I was just there what
year and a half ago. I got to get back.
That was a fun adventure. Colin says he's keeping the
patina on the on the six Flags track intact. That's great.
(25:42):
Keep it intact, baby boy, don't get too excited about it.
And Colin knows what I mean by that scale. At
one to ten, how much do you miss me? Antisocial pictures?
For those who don't know, he's Whispers the clown up
in New York. I miss some tons. He's creepy as hell.
He's also a really cool guy. And the next time
I'm in New York, we got we gotta get together,
(26:03):
my man. But it's definitely a ten. I miss you
big time, All Cars United. I wonder if drones are
hard to get as they are used during the war.
I high doubt it's a war related issue. I think
it's customs. I think it's tariffs, and because the fact
that you know, I've been buying, and let's be honest,
(26:24):
every drone sucks except DJI. I mean, I hate to
say it, but I don't even know if there's anything
close to DJI. And that's bad. That's bad. It's bad
for us as consumers because if there's no alternative, you
can say Sony sucks, Cannon sucks, Nicon sucks. At least
we have choices. So if Sony goes out of business,
or if Sony has problems with the government, we have options.
(26:44):
We can do Nicron Cannon. We don't have that option
right now because Dji is the only person out there,
the only entity out there. So I wish an American
company would make some drones. I wish some European companies
would make some drones. I wish somebody would make some
damn drones so we could get a work done. I
really rely on drones to get my stuff done, so
I'm pissed off that they suck so much in regards
(27:06):
to getting drones out there. I really wish they would
do a better job at that. Colin says, I can't
make the peace shiny and too clean. That'd be erased
in the history, like you said exactly. Bobby Carey says,
how do you go about locating abandoned places that you're
allowed to shoot inside? That's cute. I think it would
(27:26):
be badass to photograph an athlete in an abandoned place. Okay,
number one, any time that I'm in an abandoned place,
virtually anytime i'm breaking in, I don't pretend that i'm
not I don't pretend that I'm getting access I'm not
the only time I've ever had access is when I
was shooting. When I was doing the project that six
(27:48):
Flags New Orleans, I had that access because I had
broken in and been arrested for doing that, and that
may be kind of famous in the world of six
Flags New Orleans. And so because of doing that, when
the group that's associated with Tyler paying all that, when
they wanted to build a movie studio out there, they
asked me to come out and shoot that for them
and shoot their executive team. That's what got me involved
in that project. Outside of that, like the stuff that
(28:11):
I was just doing in San Francisco, I'm breaking in now.
I have certain rules. I call them Dexter rules, meaning
you know Dexter for those who watch the Murder show,
he has rules for killing people. He will only kill
someone if it's a bad guy. He has to make
sure it's a bad guy. I kinda have Dexter rules
for breaking into places, meaning I don't I don't break
(28:33):
stuff in. I don't break down doors, I don't pick locks,
I don't break windows. I got to have access into
the place, So it's got to be something that I
can access in without me having breaking so I will
enter a place, but I'm not going to do breaking
and entering. I'm gonna skip the breaking part and just
do the entering. So that's kind of those are kind
of my rules. But like the warehouses that I was
(28:55):
just breaking into in in Berkeley, you know, I had
to cross roilad tracks, I had to go through holes
in the fence, and then I would go in. And
then when you go in there, just keep in mind.
You know, there's all sorts of ne'er do wells in there.
There's usually people sleeping in there, there's usually people stealing stuff.
(29:16):
There's there's the place that I was in they were
holding raves and uh, and you will find some weird stuff.
I don't recommend doing it if you don't have a
lot of experience, and I would recommend going with people,
especially if you're females. That's not a sexist comment, that's
just me being realistic. Just because people are crazy and
(29:39):
just because you're a dude doesn't mean you're going to
be safe either. Just take care of yourself, be safe
and and be mindful, and don't be stupid when you
go into these abandoned places. Guys, for the love of goodness,
stop running around and making a bunch of noise like acclimate.
I always tell people when they first get into an
(29:59):
abandoned space acclimate, that's the first thing I'll do. I'll
walk into a demand in space and I'll just stand
there and listen. And a lot of times people like,
what are you doing? I said, I'm listening. I'm actually learning.
I'm training my brain. What's a natural sound. I want
to know if when the wind picks up and it,
you know, and there's aluminum siding, if if there's something
(30:20):
that has a pattern to it. I'm listening for patterns,
anything that's repetitive. I'm listening for anything like that, so
I can know when it's just nature or natural occurrences
that are causing that sound versus somebody's in the building.
And when somebody is in the building, by the way
I go and approach them, I do not run from them.
(30:41):
I've been with people and they want to run away
from when they see people. That's the worst thing you
can do. You do not want to run away from
people unless they're you know, you know, they have a chainsaw.
But outside of that, to me, it's much better to
make yourself known and to make let people know that
you're not afraid of them and that you know who
they are. And if you ever get into a really
bad spot and you're an abandoned place or any sort
(31:02):
of an endangered environment, which I've been in many, many times,
including when I ran from the car tail and everything else,
if you're really in a bad spot, live stream And
I know that sounds funny, but pick up your phone
and live stream. Don't just record it. Just recording it.
They can just get your phone and dump it in
the ocean. But if you live stream it, you've now
put their face on the Internet and they can get caught.
(31:27):
And if you tell them I'm live streaming you, you
better stop, you better back up. Yeah, they can decide
what to do from there. But at least that you've
done the most that you can outside of you, you know,
Jackie channing it, you know, and go in Bakersfield chimp
on somebody. Anyway, that was a big, big rabbit hole.
(31:47):
I'm sorry, as I much as I love my R
six Mark two, my fifty megapixels, Rebel T five I
pictures look dream me and make me want to go
back to DSLRs. Oh, I don't know I mean, that's
just a personal preference. And if you love DSLRs, go
back to them. And nobody's married or anything. You can
do whatever you want. This is the best photographer on
(32:09):
earth other than me. Whoever said that is right, except
I'm better than that person, So that's awesome. Man. I
wish Sony would get all of their hardware done back
in Japan and get rid of the China locations. I
cannot afford newer cameras at seventy three. I I just
(32:30):
hope we get all these trade issues and everything fixed,
because I just want to get some drones back where
Sony gets their stuff done. As long as there's availability
and it's at good competitive pricing, that's what That's what
I'm mostly concerned with. Nola DJ says he's another buddy
of mine over over there, in over their New Orleans.
(32:54):
We don't break in, we walk in. This is right.
It's a gentle stroll. It's a stroll that you take
into these abandoned locations. And you you, you, you know,
don't act like an idiot. Crystal better to ask for
give us and permission one hundred. You know that's right,
Sister Dean Federoff two abandoned places, Transalitting Lunatic Asylum, I've
(33:18):
been there, and the West Virginia Abandoned sci cress and Prison.
I have not been to the abandoned prison, the cress
In prison. That sounds like a cool place, but I've
definitely been to transalitt Lunatic Asylum and I picked up
some paranormal stuff there. Do you guys remember all that
crazy stuff I used to do? I did, like paranormal
stuff we are capturing EVPs. I mean, I really did
(33:41):
some crazy stuff, and that's what I want to start
doing again. I want to get back to all that
craziness and fun because I've missed it. I'm so so
grateful that I did Six Flags New Orleans and I
did the Border project. Those were transformational projects for me
and my life, my career. I'm so grateful that I
did them. But I'm also just as excited to get
back to some of this crazy stuff. That's what I
(34:03):
want to do. Ever, get troubleshooting at an abandoned place
and then you're trying to sell the photo for commercies
without permission of the property. Depends on who you're trying
to sell it to. Honestly, no is the best answer.
(34:25):
If you try to sell an abandoned I mean technically
the owner of the property, if they wanted to get
really litigious, they could come back, but they would have
to prove when you took it. They'd have to prove
that they had ownership. They'd have to prove that you
didn't have permission to take that picture. There's a lot
of things that they would have to prove because the
inherent copyright to any images is owned by the photographer.
(34:45):
And so no, I've never had any issues like that.
John says. It shows the difference. It shows you the
difference between pre COVID and now. You never had much
trouble when you were doing the photo shooting the missile
Sito here in Colorado. Well, the missile silo, I think
that's when I was with Maddie and I fell and
(35:06):
broke my knee open, dashed my knee open. That was
pretty disgusting, and I and for some insane reason, I
went and I still did the photo shoot. That was
That was pretty That was pretty awesome stuff. But yeah, no,
it's but it also depends. It also depends, like you
(35:26):
used to be able to go into a lot of
places in Detroit and do some really cool stuff, but
now Detroit's been locked up. Pretty much. What it boils
down to is you have to get into a place
before photographers like me going and put it all over
the place and then ruin it. I mean, I've been
arrested many, many times at these places. I've been arrested.
I mean, I could tell some stories, but I've been
surrounded by cops, I had guns up my face, put
(35:49):
in jail. I've had some stuff for real. It's been crazy,
but it's all been for stupid stuff like that. Nothing else.
But yeah, I can tell you, yeah, some stories if
I ever write a book. Some days pretty wild. Hey Jayson,
you're a half marathon video hit me harder than any
photo tip. Are you still racing? I run five halves
since then? Keep sharing the real you. Your stories inspires
(36:11):
more than you know. I really appreciate that, you know people.
For those who don't know, I I've lost one hundred
pounds and that was that was quite a journey for me,
and it's still a struggle for me. I still struggle
every day with it. And for those who don't know,
I have my hip replaced and and you know, and
(36:33):
I have two bad ankles, and I'm still doing crazy
stuff like throwing fireworks and shooting demolition and doing really
insane stuff because I love it. So it really is
a mind over matter thing for me. Am. I still
moving around and doing all that. Absolutely, But what I
would tell anybody else more than anything in regards to
(36:55):
you know, maybe if you guys are interested, I do
a video on how I lost all the weight and
everything else that I do, because it's not it's not
just a matter of movement. It's a matter of if
you have to change the way that you eat and
what you do. And you know, there's been models that
I've worked with over the years, other photographers. I certainly
don't say, hey, you're fat. You should really lose some weight.
Let me give you some tips because I used to
be a fat ass. That's not what I do. What
(37:17):
I do say is hey, you know, like if they
bring it up and they say, hey, you've lost a
lot of weight, how did you do it? I I
do you want to pass on anything. And it's not
that anything that I have to share is earth shattering,
like it's like this new science. It's not Ozmpic. It's
just a matter of this is how I got there.
But more importantly, it's not how you lose the weight,
(37:38):
it's how you keep it off. That's really the hard part,
and that comes down to lifestyle changes. And it's not
rocket science. And I'm not going to go on and
on with it, but but if people want to know
more about it, I definitely could could help you out
with that. But thank you ballroom photographer. I really appreciate that.
One thing I will One more thing I will say
(37:59):
on the weight a lot, though, is that wasn't just
a matter of the way that I looked and it
was Losing the weight has such a dramatic impact on
how you feel about yourself when you're overweight. You pretend
that it doesn't and you talk about body confidence and
you talk about I should be okay with who I
am that I'm just gonna keep it real. I'm just
(38:22):
gonna keep it real. And people get angry at me
for this, But nobody likes being fat. Nobody likes being
really overweight. And I know that that sounds harsh, but
even the people who say they embrace it. You'll notice
the celebrities, you know, what the what's that one chick?
(38:43):
I don't know guy that I can't remember. I'm spacing out.
I can see her face, but I can't. I can't
remember her name right now, I really can't. But even
when you see them, they'll always miract when they talk. Well,
they'll make these music videos about body positivity and how
it's okay to be what they are. But then you'll
see them a year or two and they've lost all
this weight and I'm like, Okay, so yeah, that really
wasn't real. In other words, we all feel better and
(39:06):
forget about the way that you look, and forget about
your confidence for a minute, if you want to put
that to the side. It's also how it just enables
you to live a better life, not only from the
internal perspective of breathing and the way that you feel
and all that, but just walking. Just for me, the
thing that was the most important was if I had
to make the decision that if I was going to
(39:28):
live a life as a photographer up into my sixty seventies,
because I'm going to shoot until I die, y'all. If
I was going to do that, I had to change
the way that I that I was from body perspective.
My body couldn't handle the weight, especially when you're already
packing on thirty forty pounds of gear when you're walking places.
My body just could not do it, and so that's
(39:50):
why I changed. And that takes a big commitment to
do that. And anybody who has seen me personally over
the last couple of years knows when you watch me walk,
especially now that I had the hip replacement, there is
a significant limp that I have. My limp is now
worse after my hip replacement because they made my leg
that has a hip replacement anch and a half longer.
(40:12):
So I walk like freaking pirate. But when I watched
the videos of me walking, I'm like, is it really
that bad? But at least I'm not in pain, so
I feel good. So what I'm getting at is take
care of yourselves, y'all, and if it helps it, I
can produce some videos that inspire other people out there
to take on that journey, then I'm happy to do
(40:33):
that if that, If that is helpful, I'm thinking of
upgrading my A sixty seven hundred to an A seven
R five. If it's not a good price, No, don't
get the A seven R five. Don't get a good
get the seven four. Do not get You want my vice,
that's my vice. Don't get a seven R five. Not
only not only is the one hundred and twenty megapixels,
(40:54):
and yes you can shoot small raw I get it.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. You don't need it.
You don't need it, So for me, you can take that.
You know, A seven to four is the sweet spot
that thirty six megapixels. It's so much faster to edit,
it takes up so much less space. That would be
my recommendation. You definitely should write a book. I probably
(41:19):
will at some point. Jason, we have a closed down
prison in Rome, New York. If you want to try
and sneak in and get shots, that sounds like fun.
I'll have to get some information. I would definitely love
to do that. If you have inspired so many with
your weight loss, thank you, Susan. That's very kind of you.
I appreciate that Jay speak the truth man on nobody
likes to be fat. I can certainly confirm that it is.
(41:45):
It's the truth people talk about, Hey I'm this on that,
but nobody likes to be fat. Yes, you had some
really bad luck at the Missile Sila but what you
had was tenacity, guts and the willingness to simply move forward,
and you got the photographs you needed. It was your soul. Yep, Man,
mine over matter, when people say to me all the time,
because I run around with a bunch of twenty some
(42:06):
odd old people. Right, you just have more energy than
I do. I've never met anybody who has who will
work longer than I do. I've never met a single person,
not one. It's not a bragging thing. It's just fat.
And it has nothing to do with my adrenal glands.
It has nothing to do with uh. I mean, my
(42:27):
body hurts. I mean a normal daily app A daily
thing for me is eat some food and chug four advils.
Because that's how I'm gonna make it. It's desire. You gotta
want it more than other people, and that's just what
it boils down to. There's just no other way to
put it. Your will will overcome your body if you
(42:51):
try hard enough, and if you lose the weight that
makes it easier to do that. Jason, happy to see
you live and can't wait to see more videos. Well,
thank you, Trinny Max Adventure. I appreciate that Crystal says,
I would have never known you were overweight by the
way you were climbing the way we were climbing around
the megaz EPHYRT. Yeah, you wouldn't know it, right, And
(43:15):
I appreciate that, Crystal, But I used to be quick story.
You know, my come to Jesus moment on my weight
was I was in Homer, Alaska, and I was gonna
go shoot the bears with my camera, not a gun.
I don't want to go kill bears just for fun.
That's not my thing. And I walk in. I'm gonna
be a little bit time with the story because it's
(43:35):
kind of funny to me. But this was my come
to Jesus moment, and I had to wake up. I
walked in, and you know, I'm a big, big tubble
ard and I walk into this little I think it's
called the Salty Dog Saloon. I'm not making this up.
If you've ever been to Homeer, Alaska, you know it's
a tiny little spit of land and it's just beautiful area.
But you walk in in the morning and you have
(43:57):
to do a way in and I walk in, and
of course, since I'm fat, I'm already self conscious that
I'm walking in and I see a scale on the ground.
I'm like, oh my gosh, why is there a scale? Right?
So I'm thinking, okay, Jason, how many donuts have you
had recently? What have you been eating recently? You know what?
What's what's going on with you? Uh? You know? Are
you gonna make? And then it says on the it
says on the wall, you know, max passenger capacity including
(44:20):
gear is three hundred pounds. I'm good, There's just there's
no way. I am good, there's no I'm gonna have
no problem. And so I look at that scale and
it's literally like you hear in the movies. There's this
music playing as I'm watching one person at my party
after another walk up to that scale and everybody's like
(44:43):
two twenty two, forty two, sixty one, ninety one fifty
whatever it may be. And then when it's my turn, thinking,
can I go to the bathroom real quick so I
can like urinate out any of the excess fat that
I may have in my body. And so I step
on the scale and I watched the number go and
I'm like, holy crap, you better stop. And it gets it,
(45:05):
I am not exaggerating, gets it to ninety eight, and
the lady looks at me, she goes, whoof, he barely
made it. And I stepped and I stepped off the scale,
and I thought, holy crap, Jason, you're so fat that
you're not gonna be able to take You can't even
(45:26):
go on a helicopter because that's the reason they had
to weigh you. They had to make sure that, you know,
they have to make sure that the weight is distributed
proportionately inside of the aircraft, and if you're a certain weight,
you're just gonna make a helicopter crash. So I was like,
you know what, that was my moment of stop making excuses.
(45:48):
Oh I have a slow metabolism. Oh I have a
disabled body. Oh I'm legally disabled. Who cares? Crocodile tears
aren't gonna help. You want to make a change, make it.
That's it. And I made a change, and I've lost
a lot of weight and it's really improved my life.
And now when I want to, you know, go do
an excursion like that, I'm not worried that I'm going
(46:08):
to get excluded because i'm too overweight. So anybody who's
watching this who's overweight, who struggles with it. Y'all know
exactly what I'm talking about, and you know exactly the
feelings that I'm communicating. It's very palpable, and y'all know
where I'm coming from is a very real place. And
there's a lot of pain that goes into being overweight,
(46:28):
and you will release a lot of that pain when
you get rid of the weight. I'm promising you it
will have a profound impact, not just on your body,
but on your soul. That's a fact, all right, A
seven four it is. That's what I needed to hear.
Thanks man, You're welcome. Plus you're going to save some money,
have you or do you now a days? Have any
(46:50):
problems shooting models with tattoos and copyright bs and have
artists try to sue you and how to deal with it?
You mean, if some tattoo artist wants to sue you them,
that's what I would say to that. So no, if
it's on their bodies, I can shoot it, and I
can post it, and I can make money with it
as long as I have my ducks in a row
(47:11):
with the model. So I'm not worried about a tattoo artist.
That person can go pound sand Courtney says, you helped
me tremendously, not only my way but positive thinking. I
will always be grateful for that. Oh, Courtney, you know
I love you. You know I do. And I'm always
going to be grateful for the time we spent together
in New Orleans and the other stuff that we're going
to do moving forward. But I'm really grateful that I
(47:32):
was able to help you. And for those who haven't
spent time with me, you'll know that this is kind
of who I am. If you're around me, you're going
to get an inspirational positive talk. It's just it just
spills out of me. So Nola DJ says same here dude,
as a positive force. We thank you. Thank you so
much for being here. I appreciate all of you. I'm
(47:54):
grateful for all of you for being here, and I
hope that this has been beneficial. Until next time, keep shooting,
never give up on any dreams. Find agether works for you,
and remember you only have one chance to get it right.
Make sure to subscribe to the podcast. Make sure to
give me a rating on the podcast if you can,
and write a review it really helps. Thumbs up these videos,
and do everything that you can and make this to
(48:15):
help us grow here so we can get this this
channel up and run it again. So thanks again, guys.
I love you and I will talk to you later.
So it's the next time. Keep shooting, never give up
on your dreams. Find agether the works for you to remember,
you only have one chance to get it right. I'll
talk to you guys later. Peeve subscribe to my YouTube
channel so you get notified. Make sure to click on
the notification so the next time we do one of
these live streams, you can get on there live with
(48:36):
me and ask me anything as well. If you enjoy
this podcast, please do me a huge favor. It'll take
you thirty seconds. Go on to Apple Podcasts, give me
a five star rating and write a review. We want
to make this podcast blow up and I need your
help to do that. So thank you so much in
advance for doing that for me. I really appreciate it
and enjoy the podcast. I'll talk to you guys later.
(48:57):
Pease
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