- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
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- 11,048
Back in the film days. A friend of a friend, pro commercial photographer. I fixed some electronics for her one night and she showed me her arsenal of cameras. Being gadget crazy I examined them all.
A few days later I got a couple of phone calls. Her assistant was a no show and she had a major photo shoot scheduled in the morning. Could I come help? -Okay.
Square one, be at the model agency at exactly 07:00. Bring ALL the models to her studio promptly. None of them are allowed to drive their own vehicles. -Okay.
Women modelling clothes and underwear. Five foxy ladies. This is going to be fun. NOT.
My first clue was her moaning and cursing. Models had decidedly different skin tones and color. I'm told it is going to be a very long day.
Altogether there were about 12 lights in the studio from near floor level floods up to spotlights on masts 10 feet in the air. Most had various color filters that had to be swapped out now and then. My job.
The garments were laid out across a long counter and covering most of the floor in a quite large room. The models were all professionals and went straight to digging through the clothes and sorting who would fit what.
The floor in front of the backdrop was covered in tape markings. Stand here for full frontal, there for side shot and so on.
The main camera was a Hasselblad mounted and fixed in position. The boss had another three cameras hanging around her neck and two more on a worktable beside the Hasselblad. Each had different lenses and filters. It was another of my jobs to change the rolls or magazines of film.
Everything was rush rush. The modelling agency charged per model per minute from the time they left the agency, thus my picking them up.
And let the chaos commence. Boss lady's job was half photographer, half choreographer. She spent most of her time squatting or kneeling on the floor with dashes up or to the side to snatch shots. The Hasselblad shutter release almost always in her hand or teeth while she fiddled with other cameras.
Another of my jobs was labeling the shot rolls of film. Model number, garment worn, and notations of lighting and sometimes which camera.
And then the sand in the vaseline. Where the pro comes in. Skin tones and colors didn't work with certain clothes. So the boss would have the models swapping out clothes. Meanwhile I sometimes had to change the color filters on the lights and make adjustments. Not a moments break, constantly go go go go. Finally a half hour lunch break then back at it. Rolls of shot film stacking up. Another of my jobs was running the films down the street to a lab where they would develop them and make copy sheets. Little thumbnail prints of the pictures. I'd guess around 4000 shots all totaled.
I dropped the models back at the agency around 19:00. The boss had to work through the night and most of the next few days. The catalogue, big brand name store, was already on the printers layout table waiting the pictures.
Cross pro photographer off my list of career choices.
A few days later I got a couple of phone calls. Her assistant was a no show and she had a major photo shoot scheduled in the morning. Could I come help? -Okay.
Square one, be at the model agency at exactly 07:00. Bring ALL the models to her studio promptly. None of them are allowed to drive their own vehicles. -Okay.
Women modelling clothes and underwear. Five foxy ladies. This is going to be fun. NOT.
My first clue was her moaning and cursing. Models had decidedly different skin tones and color. I'm told it is going to be a very long day.
Altogether there were about 12 lights in the studio from near floor level floods up to spotlights on masts 10 feet in the air. Most had various color filters that had to be swapped out now and then. My job.
The garments were laid out across a long counter and covering most of the floor in a quite large room. The models were all professionals and went straight to digging through the clothes and sorting who would fit what.
The floor in front of the backdrop was covered in tape markings. Stand here for full frontal, there for side shot and so on.
The main camera was a Hasselblad mounted and fixed in position. The boss had another three cameras hanging around her neck and two more on a worktable beside the Hasselblad. Each had different lenses and filters. It was another of my jobs to change the rolls or magazines of film.
Everything was rush rush. The modelling agency charged per model per minute from the time they left the agency, thus my picking them up.
And let the chaos commence. Boss lady's job was half photographer, half choreographer. She spent most of her time squatting or kneeling on the floor with dashes up or to the side to snatch shots. The Hasselblad shutter release almost always in her hand or teeth while she fiddled with other cameras.
Another of my jobs was labeling the shot rolls of film. Model number, garment worn, and notations of lighting and sometimes which camera.
And then the sand in the vaseline. Where the pro comes in. Skin tones and colors didn't work with certain clothes. So the boss would have the models swapping out clothes. Meanwhile I sometimes had to change the color filters on the lights and make adjustments. Not a moments break, constantly go go go go. Finally a half hour lunch break then back at it. Rolls of shot film stacking up. Another of my jobs was running the films down the street to a lab where they would develop them and make copy sheets. Little thumbnail prints of the pictures. I'd guess around 4000 shots all totaled.
I dropped the models back at the agency around 19:00. The boss had to work through the night and most of the next few days. The catalogue, big brand name store, was already on the printers layout table waiting the pictures.
Cross pro photographer off my list of career choices.
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