There it is! The 4 foot by 7 foot piece of 24 gauge, stainless steel.
Just waiting for the ad agency's client to settle on a shooting date.
Watch out for the sharp corners!!!
While it hasn't been my busiest week there's been enough activity to remind me that I'm still making a living as a full time, non-trustfunded, photographer. We've shot portraits this week, done photography for a big event for the Texas State Bar, made photos for a large, regional medical specialty practice (150+ doctor/members and counting...) and taken time out to track down a large hunk of metal for use as a background for a upcoming advertising agency shoot.
The stainless is "just what the doctor ordered." And that's an inside joke because the shoot is for medical surgical devices....
I had a funny exchange with the driver who delivered the steel yesterday. He looked around my office and saw all the cameras and lights and framed photographs and then he asked what I do for a living. I told him that I was a commercial photographer, to which he replied, "You sure don't see many of them anymore." Followed by, "And you do this as a full time job?" He was pretty much convinced that with the introduction of the iPhone that "real" photography had gone the way of telephone operators, rest room attendants, and full service gas stations.
I explained to him that people still seemed to be willing to pay money for photographs that required lighting and some degree of know how to create. In fact, the first thing most new clients ask these days is whether or not we know "how to light stuff...with lights." Maybe these are the clients who have been burned by too many new shooters who profess to be..."experts in available light."
It was an interesting exchange for me because it leads me to believe that most people presume all photography comes either from a stock photography source, or from a phone. I assume that we're actually becoming a rarity as a profession and perhaps someone will start inviting me to dinner parties as a curiosity.
I also reminded myself that some of the remaining professional photographers are just plain crazy. Otherwise I can't explain why I got in the car and headed toward Mopac Expressway with the intention of going to Precision Camera to pick up a used Fuji X30 this morning. Logic and guilt kicked in a few blocks from my neighborhood and I steered the car into the parking lot of the local Starbucks, turned off the motor and reflected on this sudden state of affairs. Had a I reached the point where the unmitigated lust for new cameras was now balanced by rational thinking and the realization that I have absolutely no use for yet another compact camera?
Or do I just need more data points these days before committing to yet another transaction? I'll go with the second choice. And having chosen I am reaching out to my brilliant and kind readers and asking them if they've ever had the experience of using an X30? If they have an X30? And how they like the X30 as a general use camera?
I am seduced by the camera because it looks so pristine in black and seems so well engineered for a camera with a modest sensor size.
This one comes with a beautiful fitted case and doesn't have a scratch on it. I'd mention the price but I know dozens or hundreds of you would rush up to buy it!
Anyway, let me know if I should add an X30 to my drawer of other poorly considered purchases...
