WEEK ONE
MONDAY
New passport appointment. I’ve got a few shoots abroad coming up and only have about 8 months left on my passport so at the end of last week I booked a quick appointment to get a new one before it gets too late and i’m suddenly being disallowed entry on the way to somewhere important. On the way back I walk past the most beautiful cathedral and decide to pop in on a whim. It doesn’t open for another 5 minutes and I really tussle with whether I should wait or not because I feel like I need to get back to the office. Then `i think… why?! Isn’t this one of the reasons I want to work for myself? What difference is half an hour going to make really? I go inside and it is absolutely jaw-dropping. What was I thinking trying to save 30 mins at my desk when all this beauty was right there in front of me. I am in a rush all the time. All. The. Time. And it’s totally self inflicted. Inside the cathedral, as if to really drive this point home, there are three women of retirement age working on a tapestry. I stop and chat with them and it turns out a group of 23 women work in shifts to get this four metre tapestry finished. Thus far, they have been working on it for seven years, and they estimate it’ll take two more years to finish. Incredible. A life lesson in slowing down to take in the process, the beauty, the (I hate this word but…) ‘journey’.
I receive an email from a production company I cold emailed in January about a shoot in Umbria for a great Italian brand. At the beginning of the year, I found the directors, followed them on instagram, and emailed the contact email addresses on their website with my portfolio - I didn’t hear back at the time (although one of the directors did follow me back) and I didn’t chase the email up. Then suddenly out of the blue, a shoot request. Sometimes you won’t get a reply, but it doesn’t mean people aren’t reading or taking notice of what you’re sending them. It’s a great reminder for us all to just keep going - keep sending your portfolio updates and intros. It might only be a 2% success rate but still - thats quite a lot if you’re persistent.
TUESDAY
I receive all the imagery from my retoucher from one of my March shoots, give them all a final check before sending them over to the client. Once the client confirms all is ok, i’ll export them as both large jpegs and smaller, web-ready files so they can use them for their websites. I then send the retoucher a new batch of colour graded imagery to work on from a different job.
The shoot last week ended up having slightly different styling to what we had envisaged - less designer, more paired back sportswear and denim - so I’ve prepped the editor for the fact that it might not be exactly right for the magazine anymore. It’s an international arthouse title so the UK PRs just couldn’t prioritise sending designer looks - a bit disappointing but understandable. The art director on the shoot knocked up a layout to send over to the editor anyway, just in case it could fit.
Finalised a Super 8 video from French trip which we’ve managed to finish with only one round of edits. One great thing about working with clients you know well is you know their style and can anticipate what they are looking for. Plus the client had already chosen the song she wanted me to edit to which saves so much time. However, she did need a version for her website as well, which the chosen song wasn’t licensed for, so spent a bit of time knocking about on Artlist trying to find a song that had a similar vibe but once you have a song you’re trying to replicate, it’s quite easy to get something similar with some choice keywords ‘folk, solo guitar, acoustic’ etc. etc.
Ended the day booking in an interview for PP. with an incredible travel and lifestyle photographer which I can’t wait to do.
WEDNESDAY
Dark room day - has been so long since I’ve had any time to be in here and it feels so good. I contact sheet everything I shot for the potential editorial, plus a few rolls I took in France and some left over negatives from earlier in the year which I hadn’t got around to. I always have a stack on my desk in envelopes straight from the lab to make sure I don’t miss contacting everything - it makes finding desired frames and archiving so much easier in the long run.
I still have one final job i’m retouching myself to finish and can feel my neck going again after spending too much time hunched over a computer with my shoulders around my ears - yet another reason NOT to retouch myself.
New passport arrives in two days - maybe a good new passport service is the one (and only) good thing to come out of Brexit?
THURSDAY
Weeks ago one of my favourite photographers announced a talk at the National Portrait Gallery about her work for The Face so I booked tickets and booked other gallery visits and appointments around it. The talk was great and totally eye opening; she really didn’t even do that much photography but has so much notoriety from the few great shoots she did. Just goes to show reality and perception are so incredibly different. One interesting take away - Elaine absolutely loves digital. All her most famous work was shot in the 90s (therefore on film) and she absolutely loves now being able to see what she’s shooting in real time. Funny how I’m striving to work the way she used to work, whereas she doesn’t even particular enjoy it anymore. She also said she wouldn’t bother with 120mm film if she was to get back into film. All her best work she says was on 35mm and she much preferred the speed and texture of it. Ran into one of the PP. readers there as well which I loved. She got to hear me totally fluff my question to Elaine because I was so over-excited to be in the same room as her.
Last week I asked my printers to tweak the colours and print a new trial of, so I can drop in to have a look at it whilst i’m in town. I love it. It’s quite abstract, really colourful and quite specific so I’m not totally sure it will sell as well as the other two I have in progress, but I think it’s awesome and something I’m really proud to put my name on. It feels quite unique. Am so excited to get it out there along with the others. I give the guys some colour tweaks and then I’ll be ready to get it dusted and, once the file is ready, I’m going to get one printed huge for my own house.
Casting for a shoot whilst I was on the train. And making pitches in InDesign. I feel overwhelmed with ideas at the moment which, whilst great as it means i’m feeling creative and inspired, I can also find such a frustrating place to be. Lots of inspiration, but no time to clarify each idea and send a well timed pitch. I’ve always been a last minute merchant but am learning (and have learned many times over but still not sure how to overcome) that it doesn’t really work in this instance. There is no ‘last minute’ pitch situation unless you’re extremely lucky (case in point the Elle Denmark shoot where 14 pages were lying empty and ready to be snapped up and my email landed at the right moment) so I need to figure out how to channel each idea into a decent pitch, in good time.
FRIDAY
Final touches on the last three jobs. I charged 25% deposit up front for all so send off all invoices for the remaining 75%, plus expenses, with only a 14 day lead time for payment.
WEEK TWO
MONDAY
My husband has some family business to attend to so we stay at his family home for an extra day and i’m trying to juggle a million things with looking after the kids as well (spoiler alert - this doesn’t ever work). I’m meant to be going to Lanzarote next week for a shoot and there have been chronic floods so I’m totally at sea wondering if I should delay the whole trip. The only reason I was doing it this week was because of a potential job the week after which has now fallen through so I could potentially move the whole thing. The client isn’t coming so the production is very much in my hands. Plus it would give me some extra time to plan, location scout etc. What to do…? I’m paralysed with indecision. I spend the three hour drive home emailing everyone involved to see if they can do the following week and trying to play catch up with my inbox. It’s a good thing the kids like to sleep on journeys and typing whilst in the car doesn’t make me sick.
TUESDAY
Decide to move the trip to the following week… I just need more time and more confidence in the weather. Have everyone on hold for the new dates - just waiting for the final hotel to confirm and then I can make the move. I’m staying at two hotels for the trip, one is the shoot location and both have given me special rates so will be delivering imagery for them (although not very much) and also shooting some still life for a beauty brand. One thing about having kids is I feel like I have to make every trip away from them so worth it, so often cram in a lot (/too much) to too short a time to make it feel like it’s a good use of time on my own. Last time, in Sicily, I got so much out of a three-day trip for my portfolio so I know it’s a good bet, but it does make me quite tense so it’s a bit of a trade off. I’ve been emailing a few people about a potential editorial as well whilst i’m out there, but is that just going to make the whole trip complete hell and far too busy/stressful…? Maybe.
Sorting last years accounts on Xero. A lot of people ask if Xero is worth the expense. If you’re on the fence - YES it is. As someone who has very little time / interest / skill with finance I would be lost without it. As of this month i’ve upgraded my accountant to being doing my monthly bookkeeping as well as my annual accounts and VAT returns. It’s a big expense but all I have to do is forward over my receipts and then have nothing else to do with it (apart from paying the requisite bills!). It saves so much time and brain power.
WEDNESDAY
Printing editorial story in the dark room. It’s not necessarily going to be in print, but I still want the finals to look as great as possible so the stylist, art director and I have cross referenced all our favourites and chosen about 15 to hand print and add to portfolios, send to future clients, and potentially place in a different title.
Get some bites on an editorial in Lanzarote. I’m on the fence about this as I don’t want to over-commit (I already have over-committed tbh) but also the temptation of a print editorial is hard to deny! The editor of a great Scandinavian magazine sends a pull letter, so I’m going to see what styling we can get and then see if it’s worth doing the shoot on the back of that.
Receive a job enquiry for a commercial hotel job which is always a good earner. The hotel job I spoke about a couple of weeks ago and really wanted is now not going ahead as the team couldn’t get their act together in time, so this would be a nice replacement. But it’s for four days over my husband’s birthday… hmmm. There are constant challenges like this. The Lanzarote shoot, for example, is now on the first day of my kids’ school Summer term and the eldest’s school photo, which I really wanted to be there for (if only because I don’t totally trust my husband’s hair styling skills…). There’s always, always some kind of trade off. But if the work is there, as a freelancer you almost have to take it.
THURSDAY
More printing in the dark room. Love how some of the pictures are coming out. I almost forget how much better pictures can get compared to the original low res scans but then I spend a couple of days in here and I just fall in love all over again.
FRIDAY
Nip into the office for a couple of hours before heading off on Easter weekend jaunt to interview the wonderful Mark Anthony Fox who is my first of two interviewees this ‘travel special’ month. Mark and I chat all the time on social media - he’s my go-to person for kit questions as he’s tried pretty much every camera at least once and has a very critical eye of colour and file quality so I trust his judgement implicitly. But it’s so nice to connect in person and chat about the life of a travel and interiors photographer, the obsession of our photography careers and the difficulty of switching off - you guys will love it am sure and it will be out next week (Friday 25th April) for you to listen to.
P.S. Do you have any assisting opportunities you need to get great photographers for? Or are there jobs you can’t do that you want to pass onto someone else? To list them on our Job Board and tap into this amazing community of creatives, just send the details to studio@aliciawaite.com.
P.P.S. Picture Papers. is now on Instagram! Join us over here.