‘Hey Wessel, we need to head to Liquid Johnny’s for an ad shoot.’ My buddy and now business partner Brian said to me. I looked up from my laptop on which I had been studiously editing an article. ‘Mmmm, hmmm….okay,’ I replied. Stuff had been flying at me fast and hard over the last couple weeks so a spur of the moment photo shoot didn’t even phase me. Food, people, places, they all seemed to blur together before my lens.
It had to be in and out, snap-snap-snap. The bar was opening it’s doors soon and we had to get back to putting a magazine together. Time was not on our side and the usual grace period in which I sat back and considered the angles was nonexistent.
I realized then in a moment of clarity that it was important to come to something like this with a plan in mind, an idea of what I wanted, or in this case needed for the ad. Simply showing up was not enough, not anymore. The people there had neither the time nor the patience for me to dither around.
Luckily I had with me someone who knew exactly what he wanted. Four years of experience in the business had taught him well, had taught him what shots were needed to make the bar owner happy and get across the desired message. Under his guidance gears moved in well oiled balance. A gentle nudge here, a suggestion there, it was all that I needed.
At first, on previous shoots (which I will write about in the coming weeks) I bristled from those suggestions and order-like guidance but after taking a deep breath, swallowing my pride, and taking to heart the fact that he had a lot to teach me I really did learn a lot. Never let your pride get in the way of getting better at something, never.
So, before I knew it the photo shoot was over. We had come and gone in under thirty minutes. One light, two men, and a camera on a mission for justice…wait…I mean ad shots for the magazine. Decide for yourself whether or not we were successful.
