Celebrity Cruises

Recently I was in this position on a 7-day piggyback assignment. I jokingly called myself the "junkyard dog" getting thrown a bone, sometimes there's a little meat, sometimes not. In this case I was given sometimes 3-5 minutes at the end of a scene to produce hero assets that will be used in international ad campaigns, OOH, magazines, the works. The talent is often worn out and losing focus, sometimes they call wrap and the team scatters before I can explain that there's still more to capture, sometimes there are location restrictions and we just have to snap a few and bail.

At points I wanted to get really angry and fight for my time. After all, I had majorly important work to create as well. BUT, my niche, my special sauce as a photographer is the bond I create with talent and crew and the positive, low-stress, and fun environment I run on my productions. I knew I had to protect that at all costs. What did I do? I spent even more time with the talent in between shots, during down time, and even when I was low on shooting time. Some clients might have seen this and thought I was wasting time, but ultimately that "down time" spent with the talent paid back dividends in the final images. Having that deep bond with the talent allowed me to step in and make the absolute most of my time when I got it.

Despite the time constraints, we walked away with an amazing library of imagery and 3 happy clients (TV production, agency and client) and some genuinely beautiful connections with the talent and crew. I cried twice on set (good tears, not stressful tears) which was a first for me. But this is what I give; my whole self (tears and all) to make something truly special.