Laura Jane Brett Photography

My prices listed on Thumbtack are discounted to remain competitive.

Discovery is huge! I like to spend time either on the phone, email or text to get a clear idea of any specific requests or vision that the customer may have about the shoot. I believe that the best photos come from a genuine connection and a good feeling of collaboration.

I have studied photography at The New School and School of Visual Arts. I have also accumulated thousands of hours watching videos on YouTube. Living in New York is also a great place to be able to regularly attend workshops at Adorama and photography trade shows. I have to say that my best teacher has been experience working with hundreds of different types of clients.

I was an actress for many years and found myself always drawn to hanging out with the crew and watching the different lighting techniques at play. I have always been fascinated by the influence of light on a subject and how it influences the overall mood and effect. Slowly, I found myself much more comfortable behind the camera than in front. I started taking photos for all of my actor friends as well as yoga teachers and my business just took off from there.

Because I specialize in headshots and modeling portfolios, I have worked with a lot of actors and performers, real estate agents, people in all forms of business and more recently fitness experts. I also love photographing all types of events.

One recent job that I really enjoyed was helping a young model build his portfolio. He wasn't sure how to get started so I suggested that we let the city come into play and chose to shoot down by the Highline. We shot underneath it and I kept the shutter speed high, used some gels so that we were able to create a great night time feel. He was a natural and got picked up by an agent right away. My client's success is very important to me!

My advise would be to make sure that you feel completely comfortable with who you choose. You are the paying customer and even if you don't completely know what it is that you want, you want to have some input even if it's providing the photographer with some images that you like. You want a photographer to be able to capture you and in order to do that you need to feel comfortable with them.

I think it's a great idea to gather together as many images as you like and show them to a photographer so that they have an idea of what you're looking for in your shoot. Based on what you are drawn to, are they shot indoors our out? Does the time of day have any influence, is it a bright sunny morning shot, or sunset and even into night time. Do you want to go to a photographer's studio or would you prefer them to come to you. What is your budget? Ask the photographer if they work to a set amount of time or do they shoot until you are satisfied that you have all the shots you need.