Justin Bettman

Justin Bettman

www.justinbettman.com

About Justin Bettman

Growing up in California, I was first exposed to photography by my dad who was a camera hobbyist. Photography started for me when I created a clothing company in high school. To market the clothing, I gave shirts to various bands and used my dad’s camera to photograph them wearing the products. From there, I started shooting bands outside of the company and became fascinated with music photography.

I moved on from the music industry and further explored other aspects of portraiture. I began experimenting heavily with strobes to tell a story and started shooting larger, cinematic scenes as a part of a series entitled “Dark.” After moving to New York City, I started working on “Set in the Street”, a project where I created and built elaborate interiors, but outside on the street. Now, my work is a combination of staged cinematic scenes and portraiture. Although my work has evolved, the common theme throughout my projects has been sculpting light to tell a story.

Justin's Stories

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Drag Queens

I recently had an incredibly fun assignment to create a temporary studio at RuPaul Drag Con NYC to take portraits of some of the drag queens for Billboard Magazine.

Inspiration

ISOLATION INSPIRATION

I wanted to create a series of quirky images that illustrated things that we could all be doing alone during this quarantine.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Vintage

I’ve been shooting frequently in the studio these past few months. So, for my most recent personal shoot, I wanted to switch things up and do an environmental shoot.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

A Fro Family

For a long time, I’ve had the idea of doing a photoshoot with a family where everyone in the family has an afro.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Clowning around

I recently collaborated with the ACME Brooklyn, a prop house in New York, to create some new work to showcase their incredible props. Shawn Patrick Anderson, the creative director and founder of the prop house, did all the set design for the shoot. We bounced ideas back and forth for about a month, and finally decided on building sets that looked like a clowns warehouse or apartment.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Primaries

I finally had a bit of downtime so I sought out to do a shoot for me with no client expectations or goals.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Dodge & Burn Look

First, shoot as a part of GenNEXT. Lighting a whole shoot with a single Para 133 HR and a Siros 800.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Set in the Street - Prague

For the past few years, I’ve been working on an ongoing personal project called Set in the Street. The concept is pretty simple -- I build photo sets literally on the street, do a photoshoot, and then leave the sets up for others to take pictures in.

Inspiration
Gen NEXT

Daniel Radcliffe

I recently had the opportunity to do a photoshoot with actor Daniel Radcliffe for Bustle.

Lights

Light shapers

Light control

Accessories

Commercial photography

Cultural Heritage

Ecommerce

Justin Bettman

About Justin Bettman