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Nikon D750, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8G, ISO 100, ƒ/4, 1/200 |
Meet recording artist Sydney Rhame. She was a contestant on The Voice a couple years ago. Here she is singing “Photograph”. By the time Sydney had gotten on the voice she had already been performing for many years. She actually started singing at age six and then started performing at age eight.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RonyOxrAS70]
Recording artist are practicing all the time. They work hard for years for their “break.”
I spent some time setting up for Sydney. I had not only setup the studio like this for her to make some headshots, I had also scouted around to get colors to match her clothing.
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Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, ISO 320, ƒ/2.8, 1/640 |
I found some fall foliage that I could use in the background to compliment her hair.
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Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-2001 2x, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/1250 |
To get to the big games like the Chick-fil-A Kickoff these players put in many practice days and games spanning years of preparation.
Most Folks
I am finding that more people are procrastinators in their work than are anticipators. People wait until they are near a deadline to actually start working on a project.
In school teachers have projects that they tell us about long before they are due, but most of us wait until the night before. Now after we have done a few of these and found out that doesn’t leave us enough time we may actually start it a little sooner–like a day or two earlier.
Word vs Photograph
Throughout my career there has been a healthy tension between writers and photographers. One thing you will hear photographers saying to writers is I can’t call the subject and change the ƒ-stop.
A writer can more easily make changes in their part of a project at the last second whereas a photographer has to reshoot to make a change.
When I started out I would just pick up a small camera bag and run out the door for the newspaper. Today I realize that the more I plan and prepare for a photo shoot the better the results.
Today I ask a lot more questions when I get a project. Why are you needing these photos or video? What are you looking for from the project? What is it that the audience to do once they have seen the project?
The questions go on more than just these few questions. Once I am comfortable with the direction and style they are wanting I can then plan for what gear I need for the shoot. Sometimes this requires me renting gear.
For most of my projects today travel is involved. I must book flights, hotels, rental cars, assistants and more.
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Nikon D5, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8G, ISO 100, ƒ/1.8, 1/160 |
Advantage of Anticipating
When you anticipate as I must do for assignments there is a lot of dialogue with a client. Much of this is in written form between me and the client. The great thing about this process for me is I have a paper trail showing how I was proactive and getting their approval before executing anything.
When you talk through a treatment with a client in as much detail as possible when the assignment is given then you give yourself and the client the advantage of keeping the costs down and pushing the quality up.
Since I am working in an artistic field for a career then the one thing that keeps you receiving a paycheck is being in demand. Believe it or not but the busiest photographers I know are the ones who are Anticipators and not the Procrastinators.
Some things you can do that are disciplines of an Anticipator:
- Going to clients with project ideas
- Responding quickly to phone calls, emails and texts
- Asking questions when client gives you a project–Immediately and not closer to the deadline
- Delivering the photos quickly–Photos processed for client without quality suffering
- Creating estimates and invoices quickly
- Raising concerns and issues before the client realizes a concern–While there are somethings you cannot anticipate you are always trying to take ownership as if the success or failure of this project can make the client be super successful or put them out of business