Sometimes the most basic jobs are the most fun... Portraits and a Gala.

Phil Klay, author of "Redeployment", was the keynote speaker at last night's 

Champions of Justice gala and fund-raiser. I was the event photographer.

©2019 Kirk Tuck

I photographed Sara for long time client, Texas Appleseed; a 

non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal remedies and justice

for all Texans.

©2019 Kirk Tuck

Professional photographers seem to always tell stories about their hardest or absolute worst jobs. The ones where the egomaniac CEO gives them only five minutes in which to make perfectly lit portraits in five different locations. Or the time they had to carry in 200 pounds of equipment and food on their backs in order to get to the spot in Siberia to photograph only to find that the sensor on their digital camera froze solid and was unworkable (but they learned how to use burning potato chips and vodka to warm the sensor and save the shoot!!!). The shoot on which the first three back-up cameras failed but the photographer was paranoid enough to add both a fourth and fifth camera and so saved the job.... And there's always a favorite story about doing battle with a publicist as their hapless client looked on, mortified (the publicist always wins which gives the photographer the moral high ground to refuse ever to work with said talent again!!!). Or just the job where everything went hopelessly wrong...

By way of counterpoint I'd like to discuss the two jobs that I did yesterday; how leisurely they were and how much I enjoyed them. Just a spoiler here: no cameras broke, nothing we needed was accidentally left behind, no one cried, no crazy deadlines were proffered and.....everyone seemed to have fun. I know. Weird that a job/profession/project could be fun. Right?

Here's how the day went yesterday. 

My first assignment was to photograph two new associates for the marketing people at Texas Appleseed. They have an office in the central part of town, across from a nice, big park. We've been photographing portraits for the organization for several years now in the same spot, adjacent to their building. It's a small raised platform with a bench and a rail that's right next to a tree on one side and a long, stone wall in the other. We just like the nice, green foliage in the background, and the foliage is far enough away from our portrait subjects that we can drop it out of focus with anything longer than a fisheye lens.

The day started out a bit rainy and breezy and I wasn't certain we'd get to photograph but I packed up the car and drove over to the location anyway. I didn't pack much. Just a camera, a couple lenses, two wirelessly controllable speed lights, a big light stand, a small Octabank and my perennial Gitzo tripod. 

My one nod to being responsible was bringing along a sandbag so my lighting apparatus didn't fall over in a wind gust and injure one of my clients. 

I got to the location right on time. Took one more sip of coffee and then started to set up. It took me ten minutes to put the two flashes on a shared bar and aim them into the 32 inch Octa, put the flashes and Octa on a light stand, and then walk everything over from the car. Yes, yesterday I was lazy; I parked about 20 feet from the location. It was sweet, I was able to work out of the back of my little SUV. 

I set up my camera and comped in the shot in a very cursory way. Then I called the client and asked if we were still on for the session. Since the rain stopped and the wind was manageable we were on. I positioned Sara on the rail of the bench that we always use and took a few test shots. The temperature outside was perfectly 68 degrees. The cloud cover made for soft diffusion of the sunlight and my light just added a bit of direction and color consistency. 

In two minutes, or so, Sara and I got into the process and developed a nice and happy rapport. Sixty quick frames in and we were finished. She looked at a few images on the LCD panel of my X-T3 and loved them. I waited for my next client and they too came right on time, smiled perfectly, and endured the five minute session with no hint of drama. I gave a quick "thumbs up" to the marketing director, declined a genuine offer to help me load gear, and started packing up. Twenty minutes later I was back at the studio looking at the files and making galleries. 

By the end of the business day both subjects had already viewed their web galleries,  made their selections, and sent me kind e-mails. Retouching their selections is one of the things on my "to-do" list for today....

My second project of the day was to photograph a Gala for another non-profit client; Champions of Justice, which provides legal assistance of all kinds to U.S. veterans in need. The event was held at the (very nice) AT&T Conference Center and Hotel, just on the Southern edge of the University of Texas campus. 

Like all nice fundraising galas, this one featured a one hour cocktail reception, a relevant and somewhat famous keynote speaker, a very nice dinner, and lots and lots of powerful and wealthy Texans. 

I had a couple of cameras in an old, tan Domke bag, packed for the event, but for the reception in the courtyard I just put together a Fuji X-H1 with the grip and extra batteries, the 16-55mm f2.8, and one of those dinky little Fuji flashes that seems to come with every camera they sell. I had a list of people to photograph but I knew most of them already from other, intersecting galas and events so my real plan was just to try and photograph everyone. It seems to have worked out well. It was unhurried and fun. I was able to say "hello" to lots of old acquaintances and, it really seemed to help with the photography that I was in the same age cohort as most of the people in attendance. 

It was kind of fun trying to get just the right balance between the ambient light and the little flash. I liked the way the flash looked when set at about 1 stop down from the existing light exposure. It was overcast outside but a little cooling filter on the flash, coupled with a WB setting for "cloudy", seemed to balance out the flesh tones pretty well. 

Then the conference center staff came through the crowd with the little xylophone things and made the nice tones that announce "dinner." We trouped off to the main ballroom to take our places, listen to speeches and award presentations, and to enjoy a wonderful meal together. 

My seat assignment was at table #35 with the event planners and various staff from the Texas Bar Association. They are all used to photographers hopping up to get shots and then rejoining the table. I interspersed making tight and loosely comped speaker shots and eating a wonderfully cooked salmon and steak entree,  accompanied by a small, thin layer of mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach, and braised carrots. Wines were served and enjoyed. I had a nice Sauvignon Blanc. I'm trying to cut down on tannins and such so no red wine for me...

I made sure to get after dinner shots of important chairpeople interacting with each other as well as images of Mr. Klay signing copies of his book. Here's what they say about his book on his Amazon page:

Winner of the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction · Winner of the John Leonard First Book Prize · Selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post Book World, Amazon, and more 

He seemed to also be having a fun and stress free evening. 

Finally, I made some fun group shots of the team that put the whole event together. They were pretty happy because  they set a new record this year for their fundraising. That's got to be a wonderful way to end an evening. 

There were some touches that were very nice and appreciated all through the event for me, as the working photographer. I'll start with the fact that no one trailed me around breathlessly pointing out people "that just had to be photographed!!!" I loved that the client trusted me enough to get stuff done and relied on my 10,000 hours of experience to not fuck up. I was glad to see they'd made a name tag for me. Even happier to see that the name tag had a table number on it. And here's where the client went for extra credit --- they got in touch with me a few days before the show to get my menu selection. They handed me a parking pass for the parking garage when I first walked in the door. And, finally, they wrote me back today, after I sent the gallery, to tell me that photographs were great and that my check is in the mail. 

I got back home about 9:30 pm last night and took off the suit and tie. I put the cameras on chargers and downloaded the memory cards before hitting the sack. It was the kind of day that helps keep one's blood pressure below the 120/80 mark.... The kind of day in the life of photography that makes it all seem fun and worthwhile.

Not exciting to read about but happy to live in.