Jason Cohen Photography » Personal

A few personal images from NOLA

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:44:11 +0000

It has been a while since I have posted anything personal so I thought I would just share a few from a recent trip to NOLA.

Been trying to carry my camera everywhere I go lately….

Blessings.
Jason

Announcing Café Cohen – A Premier Espresso Bar & Coffee Shop

jasoncohenphoto — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:59:58 +0000

I hope that if you have already made it this far then you will make it through this entire post (even though it is a little lengthy). It has taken me almost a year to realize what I want to say … even if I am just now writing it down.

If you know me well, then you know that a huge passion (in addition to photography) is coffee. It has been something on my heart even longer than photography has been. I have been fortunate to experience incredible coffee around the world, unlike I had ever experienced at home. It has always been a dream to be able to share that same experience with people in a larger setting.
About a year ago, I suddenly realized that my life would change more that it had in years. There was a stirring in my soul for some time that I hadn’t really shared with anyone. I remember the spot that I was sitting in, the scenery around me, and I can still smell what it smelled like the day I realized that photography wouldn’t be my only “job” for the next season in my life.

So here comes the news…

As of next Monday, September 19th (thats right a week from today) I will be opening Café Cohen, a premier espresso bar and coffee shop. It is something that has been in the works for months and I am excited that it is actually here (and that I can finally talk about it). The shop will be inside of Great Harvest Bread Company of Acadiana. When I was dreaming of where I would put a shop in Lafayette, I wanted to do something non-traditional. I wanted to do something that you would normally see in a bigger city, and show that it is something than can be done here as well. I wanted to partner with a company whose products and customer service aligned with what I envisioned in creating a coffee shop. I could not have imagined a better company in Lafayette than Great Harvest and it is really a honor for Michelle & JP to invite me to partner with them. They take more care in their products, customers, and employees than almost anyone else I know.

Monday, September 19th will be our first day of operation and drinks will be free all day. We will also have a Grand Opening on September 24th where we will again be serving drinks for free all day. I hope that you can come by one of those days to enjoy a cup of coffee on me and see what I have been secretly up to the last several months.

What’s NOT going to change:
I am still as passionate as ever about photography. This change will not affect anything for past, present, or future clients. I will still be shooting all of my present weddings as well as taking on new clients. I am excited about every wedding that I have coming up. I will still be working on commercial work, portraits, and as always shooting personal work. I know my best work is still ahead of me and by shooting more selectively it will only enhance my creativity.

What IS going to change:
The biggest change will be that I will reduce the amount of new weddings/commercial/portrait work that I will be taking on. This means that going from 50+ weddings a year to 10-20 weddings. Naturally I will be in and out of the office a bit, or rather I will be spending a lot of time at my new office :)

Our hours will be the same as Great Harvest’s which is Monday-Thursday 7am-6pm, Friday 7am-5pm, and Saturday 7am-4pm. Café Cohen is located in Great Harvest at 854 Kaliste Saloom Rd (across from Fresh Pickins).

The new Café Cohen website is www.cafecohen.com. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cafecohen or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/cafecohen. This is where you can find out all of our info, updates, as well as specials. Feel free to email, call, etc if you have any questions at all or leave a comment on this blog post below. I would really love to hear from you.

This journey has been more and more about me realizing that my identity isn’t about whether I am a photographer, coffee shop owner, or any other profession that I may find myself in. My identity comes from a place not on this earth and I am continually being shaped by those around me. I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported me in the last 8 years since I started and I cant wait to see what the next season of my life will look like.

Blessings.
Jason.

Day 2

jasoncohenphoto — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:00:35 +0000

31 days of personal work….

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:00:33 +0000

That’s exactly what the next 31 days will be (including today). I have a ton of images that I shot last summer while traveling that I have really been wanting to share, but just haven’t had the time to do it. I thought that by posting an image a day for the month of July, it would allow an opportunity for me to be able to share these images (as well as be inspired to get out and shoot this summer).

Every day I will be posting a single image from my trip. Rather than having a story or “tag line” with each image, I am just going to let each image speak for itself. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about any of them. Also these are all available as prints.

I look forward to finally being able to share images that hardly anyone has seen and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I enjoy sharing them.

Here is the first one…

Blessings.
Jason

Out for the next two days of personal shooting & growth ahead….

jasoncohenphoto — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:26:55 +0000

One camera. One lens.

Blessings.
Jason

An image that I shot of a couple girls hanging out on the street in New Orleans

A Night of Relief – 2504 Creative

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:58:49 +0000

This is something that we have been planning for a little bit and am excited to be able to share…

As many may know I am fortunate enough to be able to share my office with two of Lafayette’s brightest young minds, Valerie Woerner of Southern Fete & Daniel Kedinger of Crucé Design. We have been dreaming up a night to be able to gather some of our closest friends as well as raise some money for a couple good causes. This is all coming together June 28th from 6-8pm where we will be serving up some Café Cohen as well as taking donations for some great organizations/causes (a photo booth will be involved as well :).

Below is the information for the event or you can view it here on the Facebook event page.

I hope that you can come out to join us as we raise money for some friends and neighbors (some a little further than others).

Blessings.
Jason

Abigail Rose Kedinger

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:34:59 +0000

My good friend, as well as office mate, Daniel and his wife had their second child last week. The office crew stopped by the hospital to say hey and I snapped a few images.

Also my good friend Jamie Orillion post some images on his blog of her as well… Make sure to check them out here

Blessings.
Jason

Friends Grandparents – The Broussards

jasoncohenphoto — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:43:03 +0000

Just had the chance to update some images from my personal ongoing project at http://friendsgrandparents.com/. Here are a couple of my favorites, but I have a few others on the main site.

Blessings.
Jason

Friends Grandparents – The Francois’

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:55:23 +0000

Just had the chance to update some images from my personal ongoing project at http://friendsgrandparents.com/. Here are a couple of my favorites, but I have a few others on the main site.

Blessings.
Jason

Camellia Grill | New Orleans

jasoncohenphoto — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:51:00 +0000

Shot this a while back when I was in New Orleans at Camellia Grill in the French Quarter.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Blessings.
Jason

Friends Grandparents update – Joyce Faulk

jasoncohenphoto — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:03:32 +0000

Just had the chance to update some images from my personal ongoing project at http://friendsgrandparents.com/. Here are two of my favorites, but I have a few others on the main site.

Blessings.
Jason

My “top secret” personal project……

jasoncohenphoto — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:44:47 +0000

I have been working on this for a while and am just now having the opportunity to sit down and edit some of the images.

I have been searching a while for a personal project. I have bought random domains, thought of hundreds of “cool” things to shoot, and even hopped in the car and driven around to shoot things at random. I was looking for something that would give me #1 something to work on long term (rather than just going out at random to shoot) & #2 something where I could actually give something to someone else (rather than it just being beneficial for myself). I have been intrigued with the idea of creating something that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

It wasn’t until recently after my grandmother passed away I began to realize the importance of having quality images of the people that are closest to me (or at least then it really sunk in). As I was getting the images together for a slideshow at her funeral I realized that I would have been devastated if I wouldn’t have had any. Right about that time it hit me that my personal project was sitting right in front of me. I know there are plenty of people who don’t have fantastic images of their grandparents for who they were, and not just in an olan mills church picture.

For the last couple of months I have been asking friends to be able to photograph their grandparents to get me started on this project. In the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some of those images and I am currently looking for grandparents to photograph in the future.

If you are interested in submitting your grandparent(s) for me to photograph please email me.

Please visit http://friendsgrandparents.com/ to view my new project and check back often for updates.

Blessings.
Jason

Workshop! Beebe Tran | Mark Eric (and me)

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:10:38 +0000

And the big news…. Been keeping this under wraps for a couple weeks and really excited to announce that I will be doing a workshop with my two good friends and immensely talented photographers, Beebe Tran & Mark Eric on February 16-18 in NOLA.

If you are interested in attending please visit the website below. Registration is limited to 20…

Blessings.
Jason

http://nolaphotoschool.com/

End of the year… Some personal images

jasoncohenphoto — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:44:08 +0000

I am just wanted to have one more post before the end of the year and share some personal work.

I had a chance to sit down and go through some personal work, both in terms of not being financially rewarding and photographs of people who are close to me. In the later part of the year I realized how much through the hustle and bustle I have neglected to get behind the camera for pure pleasure. It literally broke my heart to think so much of the year had passed while my camera stayed in the bag I carried daily. I even ended up selling the very camera that I used to carry every day (don’t worry I still have a couple ;).

I am not really big on “new year resolutions” but I do have one. Shoot more. Plain and simple. I hope that you see a camera in my hand just as much as you see me behind a computer. I hope that you see me capturing moments as much as you see me talking about or drinking coffee. And most of all I hope that you ask me about it and help me to get behind the camera more.

I am headed out of the door to New Orleans for the next couple days. One camera, one lens, and a bunch of film. Hopefully I can make up for all the shooting I neglected to do this year.

I didn’t include the camera or lens information because I thought I would let the images speak for themselves this time around.

I hope you enjoy these.

Blessings.
Jason

Saturday morning dance

jasoncohenphoto — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:18:09 +0000

Just a couple from a recent morning at Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, LA. If you ever have the chance to go out for their Saturday morning, “Zydeco Breakfast”, it is truly like stepping into the past. It is one of the few places where you get a sense that things have been the same for the last 20 years. Very little other places will you see no division between sex, social status, or color in Louisiana.

Just a few of my favorites from the morning.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Portraits of random people I will probably never see again

jasoncohenphoto — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:00:49 +0000

The title pretty much says it all…

It has been a while since I have had the chance to just put up some personal street shooting work and I just wanted to share a few. I haven’t actually been shooting much personal work and after looking through some old work it makes me want to get out and shoot some more… I love how I didn’t know any of these people outside the 2-3 minutes of shooting them, but looking back at their faces makes me want to know more about their story. I will include what I know about each person and where I shot it.

Maybe some personal work is in my near future.

Blessings.
Jason

Random man on the street in Ruston, LA – Didn’t even get a chance to get his name

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Friendly stranger in Breaux Bridge, LA – Talked to us for about 30 minutes about the work of God in his life

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Mother and Daughter on their doorstep in New Orleans, LA

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Couple listening to music in Gruene, TX listening to music at a dance hall – This place was so surreal. It was like taking a step onto a movie set.

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Retired man fishing in Cameron, LA.

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Quick Europe Preview

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:52:15 +0000

I am still making my way back home but I just wanted to post a quick shot of one of my favorite images from Ireland. This was shot in a valley called Glendalough a couple hours south of Dublin. Truly an incredible sight to see.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Europe Pre-Print Sale

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:41:46 +0000

I have the privilege of traveling to Italy at the beginning of next month to shoot a wedding with my good friend Riccis Valladares. I am super excited about the wedding and that I will be spending the rest of the month traveling and shooting around Europe. I can’t wait for the creative break after the busy wedding season and for the re-charge to come back into the rest of the year. One of the most exciting aspects of the trip is for me to have the ability to shoot a ton of personal work. This is really the first time for me in a while where I can shoot exclusively for myself.

So on to the good stuff…. I will be offering fine art prints from my trip after I return, however I am also offering a “pre-print sale” so that you can still purchase prints, just at a lower price. After I return you will have a gallery of images to choose from to print in the size that you purchase in the pre-print sale. I am also including a couple prints that I have already shot while traveling that are options to print (in the case that you would prefer one of these). You will find those options below.

All images will be printed on archival paper and will be signed. They will be delivered by August 31st. All ordering/payment must be completed by June 25th, all orders after then will be at my standard fine art printing price (double the pre-print sale price).

Pricing & sample images are below, and please email me directly through my “contact” page on my website if you would like to order prints. There is a break in the price if you decide to order 2 of the same size (this only applies if both prints are the same size).

Individual 8×10 Print – $50 | (2) 8×10 Prints – $80
Individual 11×14 Print – $100 | (2) 11×14 Prints – $150
Individual 16×20 Print – $175 | (2) 16×20 Prints – $300

Blessings.
Jason

These next two are examples of what the finished prints will look like

The following images are ones that I am offering in addition to what I will offer from my trip

Outside of Oslo in Norway

New York City

Redwoods in Northern California

Coast in Northern California

Subway station in New York City

Pond in Central California

2 Day Creative shoot with Southern Fete

jasoncohenphoto — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:14:54 +0000

I had the chance to do some creative shooting with some good friends last week. Basically I set up 4 assignments for us all to have for 2 full days of shooting and to end each day with several hour intensive late night critiques from what we shot during the day (our early night was 1am :).

We went into the first day not knowing which assignments we would have and the one that I happened to pick out of the jar was Valerie of Southern Fete. I had an absolute blast following her around and she was so great to let me tag along with her. We went from florists, to cake vendors, to shoe stores (everyone in Lafayette I believe), and everywhere in between. It was extremely eye opening seeing the day through a wedding vendor whose day looks so different than mine. Valerie is also planning her wedding so it was interesting to see how she blends what she does as a wedding planner with the process of planning her own wedding. The approach for shooting it was 80% documentary and 20% portrait.

The whole purpose was to have a time for creative growth (as well as get some constructive criticism) without going somewhere else to attend a workshop. I don’t have anything against workshops, I just think that sometimes that we put too much emphasis on “going to” a workshop when really everything you need is right in front of you. Not to say that what you would learn at a workshop were the same things that we learned, or even of the same quality, but what I was looking for did happen.

I really tried to think to myself what everyone is looking for who attends a workshop. Really what is it that I am looking for when I have a desire to go to a workshop? It is very simple. GROWTH. Growth from where we were yesterday. Growth to photograph someone who we wouldn’t normally photograph, or in a way that we wouldn’t normally photograph. Growth that pushes me outside of my comfort zone and makes me really think before each time I fire a frame off.

Thanks so much to Val for letting me intrude on her life for two days as well as everyone else who participated in our creative shoot ( Jamie Orillion, Ooti Billeaud, & Dan Sutton).

I hope that it is something that I can do again sometime.

Just a few of my favorites from the two days…

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 35mm Summicron

Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:07:02 +0000

I had the chance to collaborate a couple weeks ago with my good friends Jamie Orillion & Daniel Kedinger of Crucé Design to photograph the Sisters of Charity in Shreveport, LA. It was an amazing two days of shooting and I was so thankful for them to open up their doors and lives to us. They commited to working with others through education, caring for the sick, the aging, and the poor.

It was an honor to be able to spend some time with them and to spend a few days in a place that was so far outside of what my normal life is like. Truly refreshing.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 35mm Summicron

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Tran Family part 2

jasoncohenphoto — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:09:48 +0000

As promised some more images from my recent shoot with my good friends…

Blessings.
Jason

Preview from a recent shoot…

jasoncohenphoto — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:37:08 +0000

Just wanted to post a quick shot as a preview for a blog post that will be up later this week….

Myself and my new best friend Sister Pasquina..

Thanks to Jamie Orillion for shooting this for me

Blessings.
Jason

Random M9 Shots…. Abbeville locals

jasoncohenphoto — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:05:33 +0000

I had the chance to take off the afternoon this past week and shoot a little in Abbeville, LA. Everyone was extremely friendly and we had a blast… From a biker with a record shop, some local wrestlers, and just an 92 year old nice man. Such a diverse group of characters. Here are a few…

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9| 24mm Summilux

Norway Wedding…

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:21:36 +0000

Hilde & Harald had a beautiful wedding just north of Oslo, Norway.

I shot the entire wedding with just my Leica, so I thought it would be interesting to post the entire wedding in b&w (other than the first time).

Thanks so much to Riccis Valladares for having me, and the couple and their family for being so welcoming to us. It was an amazing trip.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Beginning of the 10mi cross country ski to the wedding…
Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

After skiing 10mi

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 35mm Summicron

Leica M9 | 50mm .95 Noctilux

Leica M9 | 90mm Summicron

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

The bride & grooms son…
Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 90mm Summicron

Beautiful speech (even though I didn’t understand :)
Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm .95 Noctilux

Leica M9 | 90mm Summicron

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 21mm Summilux

Oslo – Part One

jasoncohenphoto — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:19:41 +0000

Just a few from our first day in Oslo, Norway. Such a beautiful country….

Blesings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 50mm .95 Noctilux

London

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:19:40 +0000

Just a few from our day in London. It was such a beautiful city and I only wish that I would have done more shooting than looking :)

Blessings.

Jason

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm .95 Noctilux

Out of the office… Out of the country :)

jasoncohenphoto — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:41:18 +0000

I will be out of the country from this Wednesday to the following Thursday (3rd-11th) helping my good friend Riccis Valladares with a wedding in Norway.

I am actually only bringing my Leica equipment (Nikons stay home) so it should be really exciting :)

I will try my best to update my blog with images from the trip as we are travelling, and if not I will make sure to update everything once I get back state side.

I will have no access to email/phone so I will make sure to return all messages once I am back in.

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Blessings.
Jason

Day 31 – Childhood Friend

jasoncohenphoto — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:22:09 +0000

Growing up it was always a dream to have a Great Dane. I remember like it was yesterday driving on that rainy day right before my 13th birthday to pick up my dog. As a 13 year old life could not have been any better…I decided to name the dog after my favorite super hero, spiderman. I was a bit of non-conformist so I decided to name him Spyder.

This past May, Spyder had to be put down at the ripe old age of 13 years due to old age (which is well over the average life span of one). Right before my dad went to have him put down I went over to shoot a couple images. It was among the hardest things that I have ever had to shoot and I cried like I seldom do. To photograph someone just hours before the time at which they will be no more.

Looking back I am reminded of the purpose that I have as a photographer. To capture life through the good and the bad. That life is not just full of joy and laughter, but also through sorrow and tears.

Over the last 31 days I had a goal to simply shoot and share more of life. I just want to say thanks for allowing me to take this month to share more than just my professional work. Thanks for the encouragement that I have received from so many people and I look forward to sharing more in the future.

This month has encouraged me to get more into the story that is constantly around me. I hope that this encourages you as well, whether or not you are a photographer, to seek out to capture the stories that we have the privelidge to live in every day.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M8 | 24mm Summilux

Day 30 – Creative Shoot

jasoncohenphoto — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:03:01 +0000

I had the opportunity to schedule a shoot while my good friend Ben Spell was in over the Christmas break. I had been wanting to do something like this for a while, and everything ended up falling into place for this one… Our real hope was just to take the time to set up things and not rush from one shot to the other… Special thanks to Keri & Tory for coming out and modeling for us. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 24mm Summilux

Leica M9 | 50mm Summilux

Day 29 – Orchid

jasoncohenphoto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:14:28 +0000

This is a sight that I walk by almost every day in my office but when I walked in earlier this week the sight of the light pouring in and the contrast of the deep red on the wall spoke to me…. Makes me wonder what images that I pass everyday with familiarity…

Blessings.
Jason

Leica M8 | 24mm Summilux