MONDAY
Up early and on the train to London for a recce at a hotel for a commercial shoot I’m doing in May. This came through a social media agency I have worked with once in the past and is the sort of job that comes up once or twice a year. It’s one of those briefs that I get because people know I’m experienced in both interiors and fashion so can combine those skills. For the client it means they can get two shoots in one go in a sense - interiors and architecture, but also models within the space. The casting is also really great - one of the models I’ve been following for a couple of years on Instagram so there’s an opportunity to get some cool headshots at the / beginning end of the day potentially for my portfolio.
We meet the Marketing Manager of the hotel, spend two hours looking at the potential locations, see where the sun is going to be shining where (if it shines at all - not at all guaranteed in London at the moment) and create a schedule to fit all those things.
The rest of the day is spent on some ‘me’ time - medical appointments I’ve put off for months with doctors based in London*, and a nice solo lunch at Grainger & Co. listening to a podcast before heading back home to the train.
*N.B. the inconsistency of freelance life like photography makes it so hard to plan stuff like this - it’s one of the only real downsides of this career in my opinion. Not knowing where you’ll be and when makes planning such a juggle and I end up cancelling appointments a ridiculous amount because good shoots comes through when I don’t expect them. A good problem to have in some ways, but the busier I get the more I have to remind myself to just stand firm on dates and try to get the client to change if I have anything important booked in - if they want to hire you, there likely to be happy moving a shoot a day or two to accommodate plans you already have.
TUESDAY
The rest of this week is in the office. First things first - editing through all the imagery from Bermuda. It was a two day shoot with a few different elements thrown in from hotel imagery, general incidentals imagery from around the island, eComm, campaign and video so there’s about 3000 files and 500 video clips to go through whilst i’m waiting for Super8 footage and 10 rolls of 35mm film to come back from the lab. I start with the eComm (always the most boring) and get them straight over to the client to make their selections (there were only 8 new styles to shoot so was happy to include this in the project price) then get on with the rest.
Editing is such a laborious process I have to do it in stages - a quick trash edit, where I get rid of anything where the eyes are closed, the angle hasn’t worked, the product looks sh*t or I think no amount of retouching is going to make it a good image. Then a second round of more concentrated culling. I compare images in the same location with all the others i’ve shot there to make sure there aren’t too many repeats of the same thing for the client to sift through. In all I probably run through 3 times to concentrate the offering and then send them over in low res via WeTransfer. Some people use Pixie Set / Dropbox / G Drive etc. but We T has always worked for me so I’m sticking with it for now.
The rest of the day is spent tying up loose ends on other old projects - a couple of re-edits where someone has noticed a seam they want to cover up in an image for example which i’m happy to do (for nice/polite clients!) - and contest a contract for an upcoming shoot to make sure we’re aligned on usages and sign off. I’m trying to clear the admin to be ready for a day in the dark room tomorrow, but admin never actually seems to clear… Anyone else feel this?
WEDNESDAY
Dark room day. Having invested in building this (expensive) dark room in the studio I’m really struggling to carve out time to be in it, which has been really playing on my mind. So today I’m back in there getting things set up for the next few weeks when i’m going to be around a lot more. First things first - testing the chemistry i’ve had stored away for the past 2 weeks. I load up the chemistry (it’s a pretty long process but i’m getting it down now - the first few times I found it incredibly stressful and had sleepless nights about doing it all wrong). I do a few prints and they’re coming out really yellow and gross so I drain it all out again and start mixing fresh chemistry from scratch. Lots of jugs/measuring cylinders and maths - it all feels a bit like GCSE Chemistry and I weirdly love it. Load it all up again, do a few test prints to check all is ok - and then turn off the paper processor because all that took so long the day is over. Printing tomorrow then…
THURSDAY
Start the day with some accounts… Dull. I went VAT registered last year so every quarter I have to update my accountant with every receipt, whether it had VAT included, what it was for etc. It’s deathly boring and I always put it off to the last minute then am shocked by the VAT bill when it comes through. Takes so long the dark room doesn’t get up and running for a few hours and then I’ve got retouching to do for the Bermuda client as the eComm selections have come through and there’s video to edit to go with the eComm stills so the day runs away from me and I barely get to print anything. This is always how it seems to be.
Highlight of the day is receiving an email from a woman I met on a train back from London about a month ago. I saw she was working on a huge line sheet on the table in between us and plucked up the courage to introduce myself, guessing that she must work for a huge high street brand which is based up near where I live (not many other people on my train line would be likely to be working on something like that). It turns out she’s in charge of all the photography and live in the next door village to me, so I got her details and emailed but didn’t hear anything back until today, when she told me she’d missed the email and could I tell her more about me/my rates etc. I’d given up on hearing back from her, so it just goes to show these things can come along when you least expect them.
FRIDAY
My kids have now started to do Pre-School together n Fridays in term time to give me a few more hours to work everyday as 4 days just wasn’t cutting it. Finally have a bit of time in the dark room but it’s all cut short by other client work, yet more admin and fannying around with my Instagram. Not a productive use of my first Friday without kids but there you go. Sometimes you just have those days I guess.
*THINGS I DIDN’T DO*
Hand print anything worth using in my dark room. Pitch anything for upcoming trips I have planned.
See other Diary entries here.