OK -First, some Informal Rules, generally agreed on by photographer colleagues:
1) Even the simplest head-and-shoulders pic will still need you to budget 15 minutes of your time.
2) A page of Pix is usually 6/8 images, and 30 minutes work. A DPS is an hour and 12/14 images. You might get them quicker; be thankful if you do...
3) At least one each, Upright and View, if possible, from each job.
4) Some jobs WILL be late. Either the location isn’t ready, or the subject isn’t ready, or, TOO OFTEN, the time is wrong or a fiction seemingly invented to fit into a busy list and expecting the snapper to sort it, somehow!
5) Town centres, especially Friday and Saturday - enough said!
I’ve already decided that I can’t do the list in the order it’s sent out to me. So I’ve e-mailed Newsdesk back to say so, warning them that there’s not much scope to add anything, no matter what they might think. Do they take any notice? Do they heck...
Drive up to patch and:
Start at Junior School at 9.30; the list actually says the Box2BFit goes on all day, so it’s PROBABLE that I will be able to get going earlier - I’m right, and there is a session just starting. Got them 14 pix from the boxercise. The rugby player arrived at 10.00 (phew!) and I grabbed a quick 2/3 pix of him with some kids on the charity rowing machines at the school. No problems with naming the kids, too.
OUT THE DOOR by 10.10 – A result, based on the list as it was!
Next stop Town Centre, for the BBC “Shop 1935” in the Mall - end up parked 5/10 minutes away, but this job was pretty good even if it took me a while to get the pics I wanted. Got my first pic at 10.45, got 6 pix, and was;
OUT THE DOOR by 11.05 - but remember it’s 5/10 minutes back to the car.
Have a think about trying the Beer Festival, the venue is just off the old road between OldTown Centre and Cathedral Town BUT can’t find anywhere to park close enough, despite two passes around OldTown Centre, AND it’s a bit tight for time (remember, the request says “get lots of pix”). Back to Plan A and drive up to Girls Grammar School - park up thinking I have the luxury of 15 minutes to myself! Just about to whip out the MacBook to do a quick few minutes initial edit of what I’ve got so far…
…It’s here that I get the call to go to the new Costa at OutofTown Mall. Newsdesk seem not to have read my reply to the PicList e-mail, (I told them the list needs timing changes and that one, maybe two, of the “anytime between:-” jobs will HAVE to be done in the afternoon after 2.00). I’m told the Costas job is 3.00‘ish. I have a quiet but pithy swear, and a think, with the ‘phone on mute and reluctantly decide it is do-able if I can get there before 3.00. I’ll do the Beer Festival last.
12.00 - Walk into the school to get the required pix - this is one of those “Yes, and?” jobs - it really isn’t much of a pic so it’s the head, the baroness and a few pupils, upright and view. UNFORTUNATELY, it then takes the school 25+ minutes to rustle up all the parties - Aggghhh!!! Two quick pics - upright and view!
OUT THE DOOR at 12.30, cursing, because it will take me 20 minutes to get to Old Docks.
It does. Arrive at the venue in Old Docks at nearly 12.55. BUT this seems to have one of those “made-up times”, as it’s lunch, and even G, the helpful PR liaison at Old Docks wonders why I’ve turned up when everyone is stuffing their faces... And there is barely any detail on the request - what do they want? HOWEVER, help is at hand, as another PR of my acquaintance is there. I know a bit about the Jervis Bay story, and with her help I put together a passable set of pics of various relatives of her crewmembers, and some copied pics of theirs. It’s just a shame that, even as I shoot them, I KNOW that this is more of a story than the paper can deal with (though I’m prepared to be pleasantly surprised). They’ve got 8 pix, then;
OUT THE DOOR at 13.40, heading for Outlying Town and Small Cafe. There’s slow traffic and again I have to make two passes before I eventually dump it in a business’s space (though I think it’s shut down - phew!) and dash in at 14.05. Wait 5 minutes for hair and makeup - women! Get my 3 pix and;
OUT THE DOOR at 14.15,
Quick dash up to OutofTown Mall, arrive (hallelujah!, there is a choice of spaces, despite it being Friday) and get my first pic at 14.35. The last pic is taken by 14.40 and, with 4 pix;
OUT THE DOOR at 14.40, AND with a free Latte - a small bonus, since you may have noticed an absence of any lunch or proper break...!
Last stop is the Beer Festival, I dive down side-road again, turn left onto the Old Road and - A SPACE! Dive into that, feed the meter, and up to the Festival at 15.15.
I’ve done this event for a few years, and sadly it always suffers from the same problem - too many people not wanting to be pictured. Some of it is because quite a few are supposed to be at work (!), some just the usual shy/embarrassed/surly, some I swear must be wanted in 10 countries... And some is just because of the negative publicity that alcohol carries. BUT, persisting gets me 7/8 pics, a bottle of water (another freebie blag) and its;
OUT THE DOOR at 15.40, head for the car and head for home to download - I’m blowed if I’m going to Newsdesk Office as the traffic is terrible there on Friday afternoons, and there’s always someone who, if they see you, will go “Oh, could you just swing by…”, ignoring the fact that you already have cards full of images that now really need something done to them.
And the tea is better at home, too.
Hit the drive at 16.20, and after collecting the bits I need (laptop, notebooks, piclist, CF card) it’s time to settle down in front of a glowing MacBook…,
In Part Three - Workflow, Workflow... Is that the Time?!
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