Richard Reinsdorf’s love of photography became evident when, at age 11, he got down on one knee and carefully framed a shot of New York’s historic Atlas statue with his Kodak Instamatic camera. “I remember my dad looked at me and said, ‘Wow, you’re really working on composing that picture!’” recalls the photographer, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and is based there. “I was trying to find a good angle. He realized before I did that I was fascinated with photography.”
Photography evolved into a serious hobby. Making the leap from talented amateur to professional imagemaker took some time.
STARTING SIMPLE
Reinsdorf had no idea what he wanted to do as a career when a girlfriend noticed his passion for taking photos. “She was a fashionista and looked at all the top magazines,” he recalls. “I remember one evening she showed me pictures of Christy Turlington in Elle or Vogue in a swimsuit, and then some photos of Cindy Crawford. She said, ‘You know, there are people getting paid to take these photos.’ All of a sudden, a light bulb went on in my head and I thought ‘Wow! Professional photography is not just weddings and bar mitzvahs!”
Reinsdorf recruited his girlfriend and other friends for test photo sessions, mimicking the images he saw in fashion magazines. “I knew nothing,” he says. “I would just go and take pictures, and of course they looked nothing like the photos in the magazines.” But that only inspired him to learn. “I really started to study light and analyze the film that was coming out of the labs. I slowed down and watched my subjects, paying attention to what the light was doing, and repositioned them if necessary before I started firing off photos.”
For a budding fashion photographer, Reinsdorf made an atypical choice when it came to selecting models. “A lot of times when people get into fashion, they just want to shoot pretty girls,” he says. But Reinsdorf photographed both men and women. He had a reason for that decision. “In the very beginning of your career when you’re not armed with best hair, makeup, and wardrobe stylists with discerning eyes, you can end up with very amateur-looking photos. Even if you took a great picture, one of those elements can break down, especially wardrobe,” he explains. “But with guys, you don’t have to do much; they can gel their hair and throw on some jeans and a leather jacket or a suit and tie, very simple.”
Soon agents at L.A. Models, Nina Blanchard Agency, Ford Models, and Elite Models were seeing the photographs Reinsdorf made of their clients and wanting to know their origin. “All of a sudden, I was test shooting real models for their portfolios,” says Reinsdorf, who had been supplementing his income as a waiter. “So many of my photos were circulating that commercial clients started to track me down.”
Reinsdorf hung up his apron and began his career as a professional photographer.
Actress Gal Gadot
CONVERSATIONAL
Today, Reinsdorf occasionally teaches photography workshops and demonstrates how easy it is to find beautiful, clean light without a big crew: for example, by using a tunnel or underpass for open shade portraiture. This technique is ideal for aspiring photographers with no to low budgets, he says, and it yields such clean and elegant imagery that he still photographs this way. Other times, he makes extensive use of lightshaping tools. “Sometimes I have a model near a window in a building or a natural light studio and surround her with foam core that wraps behind me and just use ambient light or bounce strobes into foam core, or go more dramatic with strobes or constant lights with light-shaping tools,” he says.
Reinsdorf adjusts his lights based on both the individual and the mood he wants to evoke in the photo. “If someone has a strong face, I might let the light go a bit more, but if someone needs a little love, I’ll be more careful about where the shadows go,” he explains. “If someone’s face is a little round, I might bring out their bone structure a bit more with light and find angles where their jawline looks good. It ends up being a combination of light and angle.”
Regardless of his lighting setup, Reinsdorf is known for putting subjects at ease, which comes through in the resulting photographs. “I think of my style as very conversational,” he says. “Just because I’m photographing you doesn’t necessarily change things. I might be paying attention to the light on you, but we’re just having a conversation. I don’t say, ‘OK, go!’ That’s not my style. I’m more [about saying to the subject], ‘Turn your head this way. Oh, yeah, that looks great. Hold that. Okay, turn your head. That looks really good. Oh, wow, wow, wow! Turn your head a little to the left. You know, it would be good if you leaned forward a bit. Oh, wow, that looks amazing!’ That’s part of my style and it happens naturally.”
Reinsdorf has photographed a wide range of celebrities, including Ariana Grande, Steve Aoki, Betty White, Gal Gadot, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lucy Liu, Jamie Foxx, Selena Gomez, Tobey Maguire, Monica Barbaro, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s photographed advertising campaigns for The Coca-Cola Company, Sony, Levi Strauss & Co., Heineken, Guess, and L’Oréal, as well as editorial work for the publications Cosmopolitan, Elle, Playboy, Vogue, SOMA, and Ocean Drive.
There’s no secret to making people look good in front of a camera, no matter their celebrity status, says Reinsdorf. “For me, simplicity is always the most beautiful thing, so I always build up from the most simplest form and am always cognizant of how light hits people.” More lighting doesn’t necessarily mean a better photo, he adds. “Having 17 lights on a model doesn’t make it any better than having one light in the right spot. Just because I might have a truckload of stuff for a location shoot, it doesn’t mean I use it all. I usually wind up using very little of it, but I want to have options. If it’s for a fashion spread, once I zero in on the appropriate style of light, I’ll stick with it, so there’s continuity through the whole story.”
Sometimes Reinsdorf arrives at a location with a simple setup. That was the case for a photo session with model and Paralympic gold medalist Amy Purdy for a billboard campaign (below). He laid down on the sand and two assistants held portable strobes as Purdy ran down the bike path at the beach a few times. “I was closed down for the starburst effect with the sun,” he says, “and tried to hit it right when she’s running right in front of the sun.”
A sunset puts a time constraint on a photo session, which can make scheduling difficult with celebrity publicists, Reinsdorf says. “Celebrities always have places to go, and you have to be creative in a certain timeframe,” he adds. “I think about what I want to get creatively, and make sure to have great communication with [the publicists].” If he is photographing in a studio, he pre-lights several sets so the celebrity can quickly move from one to another. On occasion, a celebrity will have more time to explore creative options. Such was the case with actress and model Gal Gadot. “She drove around with me everywhere and we were able to get a wide variety of looks in different locations,” Reinsdorf recalls. “It depends on the celebrity and publicist and the circumstances. The key is, as a professional, you have to be ready for a variety of circumstances and come home with great shots. Nobody publishes excuses.”
Mark Edward Harris is an award-winning photographer and writer based in Los Angeles.
Tags: commercial photography
