The Photoshoot

      The Desk's wife, Ms T, is a stock photographer.
      That means she takes pictures of things most people don't take pictures of, and then sells them for fun and profit.
      "What kind of things does she photograph, and what do they do with them?" Someone just asked.
      Well. If you see an ad for a locally owned restaurant in your town and it has a picture of a fried fish sandwich in it, it might be her picture. Or if you see a website for an historical pageant with a slave woman walking into a log building, it could be one she took. Maybe an extreme close up of tree bark, or a dramatic image of a red velvet theater curtain, a stack of concrete blocks or a playground, or even 'Orange textured abstract image for backgrounds or wallpaper', those are all hers.
      As is the teddy bear wearing a telephone headset sitting at a laptop.
      She takes all kinds of stock pictures.

      Well, after the success of working as the official photographer for a couple of events the Desk attended and covered, she took on the responsibility as photographer for a friend's wedding. It would not be a stretch to say that she was probably every bit as nervous as the bride. But she got through it.
      Most of the pictures came out great and the bride and groom, and even the minister, were quite pleased with the results.
      So she has decided to expand her business and begin actively looking for clients for wedding and portrait photographs.
      And by default, the Desk has become a photographer's assistant (read: grunt labor) and, at need, 'second shooter'.

      Thereby comes the tale.

      Ms T has several ads around the web, and in various forums, and word of mouth, and so on, so she gets calls and emails from different ones checking out her availability, or just curious about prices, or whatever. But this time the caller followed through so we packed it up and hauled it out for a photo shoot
      The young Mister Lawrence is fairly good looking, although the desk is far from an expert in such things, and seems to be rather photogenic, and was totally natural in front of the camera.
      Mom Elaine was looking to build up his portfolio with images that they could control. He has worked as a professional model both locally and in Florida, and will be appearing later this year in a catalog for some outfit the Desk has never heard of, but they needed some good head shots and other model type things and Ms T could provide them at a reasonable cost.

      So we drove down to the historic district and set up a portable backdrop and moved a bench back and forth and did a photo shoot.
      The Desk is an expert in 'making do with what you got' so the old metal frame that was originally part of a shelving unit served to hold up actual photographers backdrops and nobody was the wiser.
      Yes indeed; bungee cords, spring clamps, duct tape, and milk crates are part of the road kit for almost every professional photographer's assistant.
      Lawrence and Elaine had a sense of humor about the whole thing, but once Ms T got to shooting and directing, things got rather serious.

      During a break we found out that Lawrence is a serious snowboarder and as he talked about the activity we found out just how serious..... Yes, he is working toward, and has a reasonable shot of making, the US Winter Olympic Team for the 2010 Vancouver Games.
      Now that is pretty cool. No?

      Something else is pretty cool. Mom, Elaine, owns an industrial supply house in the Philadelphia area specializing in electrical and plumbing supplies for small business.
      Talk about a family of over-achievers.

      Back to the shoot.
      Ms T used a couple of different backdrops, then had Lawrence pose on the bench and by a tree and a historical marker. Then we changed locations and used some of the features of the area including a replica of the Liberty Bell and an historic theater.
      The Desk divided its time between taking pictures and moving props and chairs and all the rest. When they wanted a bottle of water, it went and got it, when Ms T wanted Lawrence to pose with the laptop and a book like he was doing schoolwork, it got that stuff too. Then it had to put it all away.
      And when it thought the visitors would be interested in some local history and bits of trivia, the Desk could provide that too. An advantage of having covered several Olde Dover Days events over the years.

      So what did the Desk learn during the course of a couple of hours?

      Well. While modeling and photographing don't LOOK like work.....
            now listen, the Desk knows what REAL WORK is, it has been a maintenance man, worked in a factory, drove trucks, done construction hanging drywall and running wire, as a short order cook, and all the rest with power tools, forklifts, hard hats, and a 'come along' or two, yes, it knows work when it sees it.....
      ...... it would seem to be something that could be called Work, to a point.
      Lawrence had to sit and stand and not move, for sometimes five or ten minutes at a time. He had to smile and not try to look like he'd rather be snow boarding. He had to hold himself in somewhat unusual and uncomfortable positions. He had to ignore everything from fire trucks to women in colonial outfits that were walking by. He couldn't laugh or talk, had to change clothes repeatedly, and try to relax and look natural during the whole thing.
      Ms T had to concentrate, and focus on things like white balance and light angles and framing. It is far easier to crop and compose and manipulate in a photo editing program, but then the photo might look doctored. If you have a good picture to start with you don't have to do as much of the fancy stuff later and the final product looks better.
      Even Elaine had a job to do. She was in charge of keeping his hair under control, and help him stay focused and make suggestions about poses and so on.
      And the Desk? The Desk stayed out of the way and watched during the actual picture taking part of it.
      Photos below the links to various outside sites.

LINKS will open in new window.
Teresa's Site is now a Photo Studio. With links to her various galleries. Teresasdesk.com

[NOTE: for what it's worth, the Desk as an entity is NOT affiliated with either of the below. It really can't say that about the one above! ]

Lawrence's pages on the professional model site: www.phillyfaces.com
his Model Page and the Actor Page.

Elaine's business is Manna Supply at www.mannasupply.com

UPDATE!
PHOTOSHOOT 2 with a beautiful young woman.

      Now since this is a Photo Essay about a Photo Shoot.... we'll look at the PICTURES!
      Imagine that... photos of a photo shoot in a photo essay of a photographer taking photos of a photogenic model posing for photos at a photo shoot documented for a photo essay by a photojournalist.
[WARNING: Do not try writing something like that at home, the Desk is a Professional]