That sounds like another case of sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. :-)
On Wednesday 15 January 2003 02:20 am, Mike Johnston wrote: > > The first thing you do when you start trying to make a living with > > this stuff is to get an "insurance" shot. That is the shot you > > take first to CYA in case you never get another opportunity. Then, > > as Dan writes, you keeping trying to get another, and another, and > > another until you get the best one. Sometimes the insurance shot > > is the best one. Sometimes it is the only one. > > Ken, > I've got a funny story along those lines. Many years ago I worked for > a hardass commercial advertising pro. Occasionally, he would do > portraits for friends despite having no great aptitude for it. Well, > once, some friends asked him to take some pictures of their > four-year-old. He came to me and asked me how I lit some portraits of > mine that he'd seen, and I told him it was just window-light--that if > it were me, I'd set up the backdrop perpendicular to the window and > put up a big reflector panel opposite it. He said, "you use _natural_ > light?" with an expression of utter scorn, and ordered me to set up > the backdrop in the studio and link four 2400w/s power packs to a > Black Line Quad Head in an 8-foot soft box. I did as I was told. > > The couple and the child arrived, they schmoozed for a while, and > then it came down to the portrait session. I had the Hassie backs > loaded and the Polaroid back on the camera. My boss told the little > boy to sit down on a box we'd set under the canvas backdrop, next to > the soft box, and then he shot off a Polaroid to test the light. > > POW! The Quad Head popped loudly and with a blinding light. The > little boy gave a look of terror, screamed, and bolted for his > Mommy's arms. > > And he screamed and screamed. Unable to calm him down, they finally > took him back to the office, where after a while he settled down and > played happily. But the minute we brought him back into the studio, > he took one look at the soft box and immediately started to scream in > terror again, clinging to his Mommy. > > The upshot was that although they stayed all afternoon, my boss never > got to shoot a single frame of film. > > And that one Polaroid? It showed the little boy looking cute and > relaxed and smiling happily at the camera. Would have made a pretty > nice portrait. > > --Mike -- Ken Archer Canine Photography San Antonio, Texas "Business Is Going To The Dogs"
