Jeff Walton
Jeff Walton is a commercial editorial photographer based in Atlanta, GA., who specializes in commercial photo assignments, editorial portraits and head shots for actors and professionals. It seems like forever ago, but while studying graphic design at Ringling College of Art and Design one of the requirements was to take an intro photography class.
Jeff had a decent 35mm SLR as a gift from his parents and that got him started shooting black and white film. He just fell in love with the whole process from shooting to processing his own film and developing prints in the lab. In college, he majored in Graphic and Interactive Communications. When Jeff graduated in 2004, he accepted a job as a graphic designer at a full service advertising agency. He worked with a team of creative directors, art directors, copy writers and account managers producing everything from print collateral to TV spots and long forms. He continued down that path but never stopped pursuing photography on the side, when traveling, to document his life and sometimes support his design work.
Eventually he decided to start doing photography as a part-time job, which allowed him to grow as a professional in the field and encouraged him to finally leave his full time job and start Jeff Walton Photography. Jeff thinks like a designer every time he looks through his camera. The experience definitely helps him understand a creative director’s strategy or an art director’s vision so that he can deliver photographs that communicate the idea and fits the format requirements. Jeff is constantly thinking about how the photos may be used, who will handle them and how he can make their jobs easier. He’d much rather be judged for his work. He looks at the time and requirements needed to complete the job successfully, and takes into account how the images will be used.
For example, he knows that most head shot sessions will be a couple hours shooting and a couple hours in post processing/managing the files. Large commercial jobs get a little trickier. Commercial jobs usually have a lot more people involved and has to budget for everything including casting, planning, execution, post processing and file delivery. This is where a lot of people don’t understand that an 8-hour shoot can actually be 40 hours of work. One with absolutely no budget limits for crew, locations or styling [smiles].
In all honesty, any assignment with a great crew is a dream job. Jeff could start a list of people he’d love to work with but it wouldn’t do much good, the list would never end. After reviewing his work, just shoot him an email with a basic idea about what they’re looking to accomplish. After that he likes to set up a phone call to discuss in detail, this helps make sure they’re all clear on what’s expected from the shoot.
