One (more) benefit of mirrorless is the tilting rear screens which if you buy the right camera means never having to lay on the ground for a shot again. At my last job I was shooting a LOT of ground level shots of cars, but between getting comfortable with the Asian squat and having a camera with a tilting screen, I very rarely had to lay on the ground. Which is nice.
I concur. I rely on my screen a lot for that very reason. In this case my late model camera unfortunately doesn’t rotate 180 so to get vertical, I gotta get dirty.
This is a level, B-to-B, that the cellphone/influencers cannot achieve. These clients come to you with a lot on the line, specific needs and expectations, lots of folks looking over an Art Directors shoulders, lots on the bottom line. You are presented with a problem in faith that you have a solution. Their admins can't do this, nor can their their brother-in-law with his new Z30 and a kit lens. I don't see wannabees getting a freezer delivered to their apartment managing this sort of thing at all. Pros have skills far beyond that, what to look for, knowing where to be and when for the best result. Then there is keeping one's head amidst sacks of onions sliced to get just the right look with tears in your eyes. What do you do with the leftovers? Ice cream is problematic but welcome. Cookies? Easy peasy. Onions? To the food bank! Cases of wine..."I am a river to my people", Auda abu Tay (Anthony Quinn) Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
I’ve got a million of these, but my partner’s favorite to tell is the time I ended up in the basement of an exotic reptile shop, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling drawers full of hundreds of breeder snakes. While the guy was showing me some of the “options” (because us photographers need to see all the options!) a garter snake latched onto his hand. I learned something I never knew about snake bites - apparently you have to wait for the snake to let go. That was some awkward small talk, while we waited. Then it bit him again in another spot, and we waited some more. I did ask him to show me a few more after that, because like I said, we need options! This job makes you forego better judgement sometimes, but I agree, it is the best part.
One of my favorite stories was the time I photographed a couple in southern Missouri with a pet capuchin monkey that they dressed up like a baby, for a story in a British tabloid called “My Monkey Baby”. The Brits think we’re hilarious and they’re right. The monkey, whose name was (and probably still is because they live forever) Jessie, was a biter, and apparently this is expected for pet monkeys. They bite. They are nasty pets, because they ARE WILD ANIMALS AND SHOULD NOT BE PETS. So the monkey had no teeth because they had been removed. And that sounds terrible, but when Jessie bit the shit out of me during the shoot, I was pretty glad about the no teeth. I pretended not to notice that she bit me, as I did not want to seem overly sensitive and I thought maybe it was my own fault for allowing my fingers to get too close. Also, Jessie had (again, this is the monkey) hilariously, embarrassingly large breasts. It was a little disturbing.
Seeing those ice cream freezers in the studio was always great. Being told any open carton was free game was even better. If you ever need a hand in the studio for new ice cream photos, call me!
One (more) benefit of mirrorless is the tilting rear screens which if you buy the right camera means never having to lay on the ground for a shot again. At my last job I was shooting a LOT of ground level shots of cars, but between getting comfortable with the Asian squat and having a camera with a tilting screen, I very rarely had to lay on the ground. Which is nice.
I concur. I rely on my screen a lot for that very reason. In this case my late model camera unfortunately doesn’t rotate 180 so to get vertical, I gotta get dirty.
Thanks for the shout out!
My pleasure!
This is a level, B-to-B, that the cellphone/influencers cannot achieve. These clients come to you with a lot on the line, specific needs and expectations, lots of folks looking over an Art Directors shoulders, lots on the bottom line. You are presented with a problem in faith that you have a solution. Their admins can't do this, nor can their their brother-in-law with his new Z30 and a kit lens. I don't see wannabees getting a freezer delivered to their apartment managing this sort of thing at all. Pros have skills far beyond that, what to look for, knowing where to be and when for the best result. Then there is keeping one's head amidst sacks of onions sliced to get just the right look with tears in your eyes. What do you do with the leftovers? Ice cream is problematic but welcome. Cookies? Easy peasy. Onions? To the food bank! Cases of wine..."I am a river to my people", Auda abu Tay (Anthony Quinn) Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
I’ve got a million of these, but my partner’s favorite to tell is the time I ended up in the basement of an exotic reptile shop, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling drawers full of hundreds of breeder snakes. While the guy was showing me some of the “options” (because us photographers need to see all the options!) a garter snake latched onto his hand. I learned something I never knew about snake bites - apparently you have to wait for the snake to let go. That was some awkward small talk, while we waited. Then it bit him again in another spot, and we waited some more. I did ask him to show me a few more after that, because like I said, we need options! This job makes you forego better judgement sometimes, but I agree, it is the best part.
After the second bite I may have noped out. Nice job sticking it out even in the face of potential harm!
One of my favorite stories was the time I photographed a couple in southern Missouri with a pet capuchin monkey that they dressed up like a baby, for a story in a British tabloid called “My Monkey Baby”. The Brits think we’re hilarious and they’re right. The monkey, whose name was (and probably still is because they live forever) Jessie, was a biter, and apparently this is expected for pet monkeys. They bite. They are nasty pets, because they ARE WILD ANIMALS AND SHOULD NOT BE PETS. So the monkey had no teeth because they had been removed. And that sounds terrible, but when Jessie bit the shit out of me during the shoot, I was pretty glad about the no teeth. I pretended not to notice that she bit me, as I did not want to seem overly sensitive and I thought maybe it was my own fault for allowing my fingers to get too close. Also, Jessie had (again, this is the monkey) hilariously, embarrassingly large breasts. It was a little disturbing.
https://substack.com/@jayfram/note/p-163410784?r=185zc6&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
This monkey is not nearly as seductive as I was led to believe.
For the second week in a row… THIS is how to comment!
Also where could one find pictures of this monkey online? Asking for a friend.
Seeing those ice cream freezers in the studio was always great. Being told any open carton was free game was even better. If you ever need a hand in the studio for new ice cream photos, call me!
Writing this prompted me to reach out to my old ice cream contact and she sounded amenable so perhaps it will become a thing once again!