About me

Karl Yamashita is a International published glamour photographer. Born in Los Angeles California. Karl’s interest in photography started in 2006 when he took his son Brandon to John Robert Powers in Costa Mesa California. He spent $750 for his son’s headshots which was more than he wanted to spend. Knowing it couldn’t be that hard to use a camera, Karl purchased a camera and started to take pictures after work and on weekends.

Karl started taking pictures of flowers, dogs, wildlife and odd everyday objects. One day Karl went to an organized model and photographer group shoot. He wanted to learn how to take photos of models using different lighting techniques. That is when Karl fell in love with shooting beautiful models and his passion for photography began.

It wasn’t until about Summer of 2009 that Karl finally understood lighting. One day Karl took a shot of a model and was blown away by how she was lit up. Karl studied how the model was posed in relation to the sun. He then looked at where my strobe light was placed. From there on, his placement of the model to the sun and his strobe light has been very crucial. When comparing shooting natural light or using strobe lights, Karl prefers to shoot with strobes. “The model looks flat and doesn’t pop out at you when shooting natural light. When I use strobe lights the model has shadows created by multiple light sources and looks more 3 dimensional”.

Since after Summer of 2009, Karl teamed up friend Drew Santos and began teaching workshops and holding large group shoot events. Photographers come from around the world to attend Karl’s events. They have become the #1 event promoters in Southern California within 4-5 months.