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jasonstokesvs | VIP Member | Verified Credits (25)

Jason Stokes is a photographer and cinematographer based in Oakland, CA. His lighting and composition are influenced by his favorite cinematographers, the legendary Roger Deakins, and Hoyte Van Hoytema.

Jason describes his style as a “collision of glamour with a dose of imperfection, grit, boldness, and mood. I am not a light, airy, soft, and pretty type of photographer. I love imperfection. I love things that feel just beyond the edge of realism but also plausible just like what you might see in a movie, not something you would see every day but you can also believe it would happen in real life.”

He’s also a musician and graphic designer, and both of those skills play an important role in his approach to photography. He says, “The combination of the right music choice in the scene of a movie that really takes the impact of the scene to another level is how I tend to previsualize how I approach photographing a look.”

“I tend to incorporate elements in my composition and treat my color grade in a very graphic way, sometimes feeling illustrated like a comic book or a digital painting.”

“I feel that when you watch a film or listen to a song, that your mood should be shifted at least slightly in any direction from where you started, otherwise the piece of art didn’t really have any impact and I strive to create a mood shift in many possible directions in my work in the same way.”

Check out Jason Stokes’ Model Mayhem portfolio to see more of his work. You can also follow him on Instagram and Vimeo.