Maquinna's Poop du Jour

The Shoot

Part of my job as a marketing director for an MBA program is to coordinate the creation of new marketing materials - and inevitably, that means bringing in real live photographers to do professional shots. There are a couple of guys I normally work with when I need photography, and as someone who plans to become a photographer herself in a year or so, I always value the chance to watch them work and see how they handle challenges and come up with the look we need.

This morning I spent four hours at this one guy's studio, where we were shooting a critical image - a cover shot for our next program viewbook. I get a few extra miles out of these shots by using them in different areas, like perhaps on a web page or a poster or ad, and part of the rationale there too is to create a uniform look between pieces of collateral, or electronic media, so that the viewer begins to identify the image with us.

I'm always amazed to watch Pat, the photographer, work, and even more so to see how many elements have to come together to make something like this happen. A lot of people think photography is just getting behind a camera and shooting a picture, but that's about 1% of it in a case like this. We spent the last two weeks planning this shot - trying to come up with a concept that would get our message out there, which isn't easy when the message is intangible. It's not like you're selling shampoo and you can just photograph a picture of the bottle or a model with suds in her hair. The graphic designer gets involved, to make sure that the composition will be right for the piece we're developing. Other people from the marketing department at the college get involved to make sure the shot fits the college's overall image. I have to hire a model - in this case, two models - and determine the right wardrobe for them. All this, and you still have to come up with something creative.

We began the day suspending large panels of plexiglass from the ceiling, and setting up a coloured backdrop behind them. We then set up laptops and projectors to project graphic elements onto the panels from behind. Booms, lights, take the backdrop down and put up a different colour...adjust the panel angles...re-edit the graphic collage on one panel so that it projects right to left instead of left to right...select wardrobe, test it, change it out, test it, change it out again...and we haven't even taken ONE photo yet!

Meanwhile, Pat's setting up his camera (which is worth about five times my car, minimum), tethering it to a computer and testing the lighting. One model is directed to make walking motions through the scene so that there will be some action blur. The other needs to hold very still and just look devastatingly confident - which he does (and I even get to touch him a lot under pretense of adjusting wardrobe and hair!).

We take some shots. We realize that the angles of the panels, or the camera in relation to them, still aren't right. We adjust that. We place filters on some lights. We readjust the angle of the backdrop. We re-adjust the projected graphics so lines don't appear to be skewering the model's head like a fat kebab. We take more shots. We keep working on the background model to get the walk-motion blur just right. We change out the front model's shirt. We take more shots. We mop the model's brow which has begun to get very shiny from the lights and is causing glare in the shots. We take more shots.

All the while, I'm thinking, this is what I'm going to be doing. And this is so much fun. I can't wait until I am setting up shots like this. Frankly, I think it's easier in a way than on-the-fly, more candid shooting. I can take more time with it. I can get it perfect...or I can at least try. Despite how much I realize I have to learn, I get more and more psyched about it and wish I could just chuck everything else and spend time practicing, shooting, getting better and better. I've always known that my life would be far more interesting when I was excited about my work. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to figure out what kind of work would give me that feeling!

posted by Maquinna @ 12:54 p.m.