Tag Archives: Product Photography

Working Like Mad

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How’s that “five day work week” go again? Over the weekend, I was handed a massive photo job involving loads of merchandise, a model, and even more photo editing. Whenever I feel exhausted (because I’ve been putting in 12 hour days) I remind myself that this is what I wanted. Here we go. This is my career. I wanted this. Most of the items in this project are rush items. Because I love this company and I want their continued business, I dropped the rush charge – that would be the 50% upcharge for work delivered in under 72 hours. Forget about it. This job is hefty enough. And this company has been good to me. I can afford to be good to them. I also really like my contacts over there. They seem like stand up guys.

I’ve been working in the studio more than ever – A.K.A. the garage. It’s only about 50% cleared, but I have space to work. I love working in there. I love it so much. On Saturday, I started work in the morning steaming t-shirts and as the heat rose, I thought I should go buy a thermometer, just to see exactly how hot. Turns out, it got to 91 degrees in there. And that’s nothing. It wasn’t even a particularly hot day. It was 80 degrees outside, 91 in the studio. Can you imagine what it’s like in 98 degree weather? By the thermometer’s logic, that would make it 109 in the studio! AJB finally caved and bought his poor, heat stroked fiancee a portable air conditioner. As he came home with the appliance, I stated, “Watch, as soon as we plug it in, the weather’s going to cool off.” Lo, I was right. It’s been a lovely 75 fucking degrees! Jesus. Ain’t it always the way? Well, through the end of the month, it looks like we’ll reach the high 90′s. I’m not wishing for another heat wave, I just want to make sure I use that sucker after all the fuss I made.

As I’m working hard, my eyes are burning with the heat of at least 1200 fires. I suppose this means I need new glasses. This has been the year that I’ve noticed I need my glasses more and more. Like, all the time. I’ve worn reading glasses since I was 17, but I could always get away with not wearing them all the time. These days, Grandma Kristen needs her spectacles. One of the numerous benefits to getting married is having health insurance and (hopefully) eye coverage. Teeth even?

On that note, HOLY CRAP THE WEDDING IS ONLY 46 DAYS AWAY!!!! No, I’m not panicking. I’m freaking the fuck out. We have so much to do. Our wedding planner – the girl that’s making it all happen – is out of town. Her father had a stroke and she’s (as she should be) attending to him. I can’t help but feel like…OMG bad timing! Does that make me a bad person? The selfish part of me is annoyed, the human part of me knows how tough it is when your Dad is sick. I’m sending her good thoughts. Except, now we’re on our own.

To get an idea of where we’re at, here are several important things we need to do: Wedding invites, bridesmaid dresses, grooms’s attire, groomsman’s attire, rehearsal dinner, wedding rings, outfits for the flower kids, wedding night reservations, honeymoon plans, slim the budget substantially, I need to figure out how I want my hair and make-up, alter dress, lose 10 more pounds, make appt. to get hair extensions (it’s gonna look cool), buy wedding shoes, take photo (or Photoshop) for special reception decor, write wedding vows, make favors, make bridesmaid bouquets, and a JILLION other little things.

AJB and I are lazy fucks. We lag on just about everything. When it’s come to the wedding, we’ve been less than proactive. Sure, in the last few months, we’ve gotten a bit more on the ball, but we’re not where we should be. Thankfully, we have lots of help. We’ve also been hellishly busy. Once the kids came back from vacation, we’ve both been working like mad. Who has time to design wedding invites? Yet, it has to get done.

On that note, I have a lot of work to do today.

Making your way in the world today, takes everything you’ve got…

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Tuesday morning, anticipating rain, I shot the weekly Enid and Egar shoot in my garage. It ended up being clear skies all day, but a little cold. The model was sick and arrived an hour late. We got through everything well enough and even though I hit a few lighting snags, usage of the garage as a studio is underway. It’s not quite as cleared out as I’d like, but I can see it taking form.

After Enid and Edgar, I shot over to Silverlake to pick up some product for Epitaph Records’ merchandise division. On my way back into town, I stopped at Target and picked up an outdoor solar light to help light the area near my studio and a cheap battery powered press-light for the door. AJB and I got side tracked playing with a set of old “wireless” intercoms (which sort of work) along with his amazing new Flip HD video camera.

I waded through hundreds of Enid and Egar images and took a dinner break around 8pm. Father Nature! The Epitaph Records items were a rush because for some reason, I told the guy I could have them shot and edited by morning. Somehow, my brain neglected to remind me that I would be shooting still shots for a web series pilot in Santa Monica at 6am. Or maybe I remembered, but I imagined I could actually do that much work in so little time. I’m also highly aware of other people’s deadlines rather than my own.

By the time I started working on the Epitaph images, I was already tired from being on the go all day. By midnight, I was dragging. Exhausted, my mind was starting to fuzz over like a moldy peach. I powered through. I encountered several challenging items that required a level of thinking my brain wasn’t capable of at the moment. Frustrated, I began to unravel. AJB made every attempt to help me, but I was too far gone. Angry at myself for saying I could do heaps of work in a short amount of time, annoyed with anyone that talked to me, tired, fuzzy-brained, I lost it more than a few times. It’s not that I didn’t realize that in the grand scheme of things, missing a deadline isn’t half as important as say…world hunger, but no matter how I tried to convince myself, the exhaustion absolutely took over and I was irrational.

By the time I finished everything up, it was after 3am. I needed to be at a bar in Santa Monica by 6am which meant by 4am, I had to shower, get my equipment together, and leave the house by 5am. AJB convinced me to take a short nap on the couch after my shower. I could have slept all day, but I got up, got my gear, put on some make-up, downed a big fat cup o’ coffee and drove to the coast. I got there in record time. It’s always so disorienting when you don’t sleep and somehow, you’re on the road in the wee hours of the morning and the moon is still out. That’s Winter for you.

At the shoot, I was only half lucid. At times I found it difficult to communicate or say certain words. My joints ached and my head was stuffy. Regardless, I had a great time. This was my first experience on a real film set, even if it’s just for a web series. I got to see how things work, who does what, and why it takes so many takes to get it right. I haven’t looked at my images yet. I expect I won’t do that until tomorrow. I joked around with one of the extras that because I was so delusional, I will have imagined that I took the best shots of my life, but in actuality, I’ll find that I spent 4 hours shooting pictures of a strange hot dog statue that was on the set. It was funny. You had to be there. Or perhaps I was so delusional, I only thought it was funny.

The producer, the guy who “hired” me, was abundantly thankful, pleasant, and easy to get along with. The cast and crew were a mixed bag of actor types, laid back extras, and miscellaneous crew. Most people were nice although it was immediately apparent that everyone hangs out with their own group. Who knew film sets were so cliquey? The director was a really nice guy and I marveled at his ability to direct. As a director, you really need to be comfortable with ordering people around and do it in a way that doesn’t make you seem like a douche; which this guy did.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s shoot. More of the same. I basically just get to walk around and take pictures of whatever I want. Sure I’m not getting paid, but it’s not about that. This is one of those times where the experience outweighs the financial gain.

Tonight, I have even more Epitaph merch to shoot. I’ll get as much done as I can and try to be in bed by 10pm. At 33, I no longer have the stamina to go two days without sleep…as much as I wish I could.