I just finished the busiest week of my studio's busiest season. My boss said that between us, we photographed over 10,000 kids. That's not including the college sports teams; 2 volleyball, 2 basketball, 2 soccer, golf and the administrators. It also doesn't include 25 volleyball teams at a local tournament or the three families that we did today.
I don't think that I've had so many 13 hour days in one week before. I'm tired, I've had a headache for 2 days. I just want to sleep.
Beyond the pain, I do have to admit that it was pretty fun.
One kid at a junior high.
Me, "Sit down and point your knees at my computer." I point at my computer.
Kid, remains in a fog.
Me, "POINT YOUR KNEES AT MY COMPUTER." I shake my hand as I point at my computer.
Kid, "What? Where?" more fog around this kids head.
Me, I point at my computer.
Kid, Walks over to me, "What?"
Me, I point at my computer and say, "Point your knees at my computer."
Kid, Lifts knee and touches it to the computer.
Me, "NO! SIT DOWN AND POINT YOUR KNEES AT MY COMPUTER!"
Kid, "Right here?" points to the ground at my feet.
Me, "NO! ON YOUR CHAIR. SIT ON YOUR CHAIR AND TURN YOUR KNEES SO THEY POINT AT THE LAPTOP COMPUTER ON MY TABLE!" I think to myself this kid is dumber than a bag of pucks.
At the Volleyball tournament.
Me, "Smile, one, two," Click.
Kid, Smiles
Teammates to kid, "HA HA! YOU'RE GAY BECAUSE YOU SMILED!"
Setting up for one of the high schools on Tuesday.
Female Coworker, "I was going to make those business cards for you, Gary, but I got distracted."
Me jokingly, "Saw something shiny, eh?"
My Boss, loud laughter.
Earlier today.
Female Coworker, "Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, HEY DID YOU SEE THAT KIDS SHIRT!?!?! IT WAS REALLY SHINY!!! IT WAS xxxxx BRAND OF SHIRT........" Voice trails off.
Me, "Don't worry, I won't tell the boss."
-Gary
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
The Walk
We walked from our house down to Kin Coulee and took some photos this evening. We had a pretty good time.
Things have been going well. I went to Fox Valley Saskatchewan to do their grad formal photos. The other photographer, Marley, did all the individual shots while I worked on the family groups. We did 15 families. It was a long gruelling day, considering that we had to leave at six in the morning to get everything set up and then by the time we finished shooting everything at about 5pm we still had to pack up and drive for a little over an hour to get back home.
I miss understood my boss when he told me he wanted to set the studio props back up in the morning. He had intended that we unload the truck that night, but I took off thinking that we were going to do it in the morning. I was really glad to get out of there though.
It looks like we will be having a few relaxing days before another hectic day of grad formals when we have the CHHS banquet. Since all the girls are having their hair and makeup done that day, they all want to have their photos done that day too. No to mention the fact that all the boys will have their rental tuxes too. Luckily the word is spreading among the girls that you really should have a practice hair and make up day, that is to say get your hair and make up done a week before the event to make sure they aren't going to screw it up on grad night.
Pure marketing genius. Makeup artists and hair stylists double their business and give the photographers a chance to fill up a lot more appointments for an entire week before the grad ceremony, not just the day of.
I really love my job. The thing is, even when you have a really full, stressful day, you know that the next day will be better because you don't have as many appointments or if dealing with a person that just can't keep their head from tilting to the side or nose pointed at the camera you know that you'll really only be dealing with them for an hour. If you can't stand the stupid kid who doesn't want to stand by his sister or the dumb uncle who really doesn't want to be there you know that you can just shoot faster or only take 3 shots per pose rather than 4 or 5. Really you'll end up with the same photos at the end any way.
The good days more than make up for the bad days. You'll get 3 or 4 really pretty girls that really want to be there, that are excited to be graduating, that are really fun people and you really have fun doing it. You realize that if you won the lottery, you would still want to work there doing the same thing only for free.
Life is being really good to me right now.
-Gary
Things have been going well. I went to Fox Valley Saskatchewan to do their grad formal photos. The other photographer, Marley, did all the individual shots while I worked on the family groups. We did 15 families. It was a long gruelling day, considering that we had to leave at six in the morning to get everything set up and then by the time we finished shooting everything at about 5pm we still had to pack up and drive for a little over an hour to get back home.
I miss understood my boss when he told me he wanted to set the studio props back up in the morning. He had intended that we unload the truck that night, but I took off thinking that we were going to do it in the morning. I was really glad to get out of there though.
It looks like we will be having a few relaxing days before another hectic day of grad formals when we have the CHHS banquet. Since all the girls are having their hair and makeup done that day, they all want to have their photos done that day too. No to mention the fact that all the boys will have their rental tuxes too. Luckily the word is spreading among the girls that you really should have a practice hair and make up day, that is to say get your hair and make up done a week before the event to make sure they aren't going to screw it up on grad night.
Pure marketing genius. Makeup artists and hair stylists double their business and give the photographers a chance to fill up a lot more appointments for an entire week before the grad ceremony, not just the day of.
I really love my job. The thing is, even when you have a really full, stressful day, you know that the next day will be better because you don't have as many appointments or if dealing with a person that just can't keep their head from tilting to the side or nose pointed at the camera you know that you'll really only be dealing with them for an hour. If you can't stand the stupid kid who doesn't want to stand by his sister or the dumb uncle who really doesn't want to be there you know that you can just shoot faster or only take 3 shots per pose rather than 4 or 5. Really you'll end up with the same photos at the end any way.
The good days more than make up for the bad days. You'll get 3 or 4 really pretty girls that really want to be there, that are excited to be graduating, that are really fun people and you really have fun doing it. You realize that if you won the lottery, you would still want to work there doing the same thing only for free.
Life is being really good to me right now.
-Gary
Friday, January 12, 2007
House Sitting
It is our third night of house sitting and we are loving it. I really like having my own place again. It is so much better. The house is a lot quieter and I like the quiet. Superman's fortress of solitude would just about be perfect.
Work is going well. We are shooting mainly passport photos and working on the studio itself to arrange things more nicely and get ready for the cap and gown graduation season which is starting in two weeks.
The other day an elderly lady came in to find out about a photo she her daughter had ordered back in Octobers. She said it was taken in June. I couldn't find the name in the jun folder, so I looked in May and July and the her folder wasn't in those ones either. I asked her could in be under a different name? "No, I'm the one who paid for it" The lady was a granny type so I asked "Could it have been under the name of a married daughter?"
She lowered herself to tell me the married name of her daughter and sure enough that was the folder, but the edits weren't there. This seemed odd so I asked the photoshop editor about it in the back room. She said yeah, "they wanted a deceased son added and I did that a few months ago and emailed the proofs. This is the folder."
I went back to the front and proudly said "Here it is, it was finished and emailed a couple of months ago." Granny says, "I know that that's not true" I'm thinking, well here's the file, I'll just check the file properties to find out. Sure enough, oct 16th 5:13pm. I tell her the date. "That's not true" I guess she's a big fan of Colbert and is going with her gut on this one. I say to her. "So I went back there and in literally 30 seconds while I was gone, I did all that photoshopping and changed the date on the computers so that I could spoof the file system into thinking that I made the file on Oct 13 at 5:13pm?"
I said, "It's possible that your daughter didn't get the email, maybe her spam filters blocked it or something."
She says, "It's not true that you did that back in October." I say, "Well, whatever, it doesn't matter when it was done, just that she didn't get the email. What is her email address." I don't know what came over me expecting this lady to know her daughter's email address. She said, "I'll have to go home and get it."
"No, just tell me her phone number and I'll call to ask her." I said. "It's long distance." She tells me.
At this point I'm just so frustrated at this woman that I say, "It's what like two cents a minute? It's costing my boss ten times that for me to talk to you and we're in the very same room. We can afford it."
So she figures out the phone number and I call. The granny takes my word for it that we actually will email the proof out this time and leaves. I go back to the photoshopper to make sure the email gets sent and low and behold the old email is still in the sent box so we just resend it. By the way the date on the old email was Oct.13 5:26pm. I guess our photoshopper had a smoke in between the editing and the emailing.
I just thought to myself, I bet this lady feels like people are trying to get the best of her ALL THE TIME. If you think people are constantly trying to pull a fast one on you, guess what, they're not. You're just a pessimistic jerk. They don't care about you. We all just want to go through our lives as smoothly as possible. I don't understand how we could have possibly benefited from dragging our feet on this lady's order. We have to do the work before they'll place and order and we can get paid. It just doesn't make sense.
That being said, my boss is one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. A WWII vet came in a couple of months ago to get some pictures of his Uncle's WWI medals, and we gave him what he wanted for free. My boss shot a wedding a year and a half ago and the groom passed away in some sort of accident shortly after the wedding and so my boss gave the order for free. It must have been close to $1000 at least. Then the mother called two days ago to place another $500 order and he wanted to give her that one for free, but she politely declined his offer. We don't need to gouge people we just want to do a good service for a fair price and treat people nicely. That war vet was very pleased with his photo. The mother is very pleased with the way she has been treated. There are a few crazy people out there that you just can't please no matter what you try.
-Gary
Work is going well. We are shooting mainly passport photos and working on the studio itself to arrange things more nicely and get ready for the cap and gown graduation season which is starting in two weeks.
The other day an elderly lady came in to find out about a photo she her daughter had ordered back in Octobers. She said it was taken in June. I couldn't find the name in the jun folder, so I looked in May and July and the her folder wasn't in those ones either. I asked her could in be under a different name? "No, I'm the one who paid for it" The lady was a granny type so I asked "Could it have been under the name of a married daughter?"
She lowered herself to tell me the married name of her daughter and sure enough that was the folder, but the edits weren't there. This seemed odd so I asked the photoshop editor about it in the back room. She said yeah, "they wanted a deceased son added and I did that a few months ago and emailed the proofs. This is the folder."
I went back to the front and proudly said "Here it is, it was finished and emailed a couple of months ago." Granny says, "I know that that's not true" I'm thinking, well here's the file, I'll just check the file properties to find out. Sure enough, oct 16th 5:13pm. I tell her the date. "That's not true" I guess she's a big fan of Colbert and is going with her gut on this one. I say to her. "So I went back there and in literally 30 seconds while I was gone, I did all that photoshopping and changed the date on the computers so that I could spoof the file system into thinking that I made the file on Oct 13 at 5:13pm?"
I said, "It's possible that your daughter didn't get the email, maybe her spam filters blocked it or something."
She says, "It's not true that you did that back in October." I say, "Well, whatever, it doesn't matter when it was done, just that she didn't get the email. What is her email address." I don't know what came over me expecting this lady to know her daughter's email address. She said, "I'll have to go home and get it."
"No, just tell me her phone number and I'll call to ask her." I said. "It's long distance." She tells me.
At this point I'm just so frustrated at this woman that I say, "It's what like two cents a minute? It's costing my boss ten times that for me to talk to you and we're in the very same room. We can afford it."
So she figures out the phone number and I call. The granny takes my word for it that we actually will email the proof out this time and leaves. I go back to the photoshopper to make sure the email gets sent and low and behold the old email is still in the sent box so we just resend it. By the way the date on the old email was Oct.13 5:26pm. I guess our photoshopper had a smoke in between the editing and the emailing.
I just thought to myself, I bet this lady feels like people are trying to get the best of her ALL THE TIME. If you think people are constantly trying to pull a fast one on you, guess what, they're not. You're just a pessimistic jerk. They don't care about you. We all just want to go through our lives as smoothly as possible. I don't understand how we could have possibly benefited from dragging our feet on this lady's order. We have to do the work before they'll place and order and we can get paid. It just doesn't make sense.
That being said, my boss is one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. A WWII vet came in a couple of months ago to get some pictures of his Uncle's WWI medals, and we gave him what he wanted for free. My boss shot a wedding a year and a half ago and the groom passed away in some sort of accident shortly after the wedding and so my boss gave the order for free. It must have been close to $1000 at least. Then the mother called two days ago to place another $500 order and he wanted to give her that one for free, but she politely declined his offer. We don't need to gouge people we just want to do a good service for a fair price and treat people nicely. That war vet was very pleased with his photo. The mother is very pleased with the way she has been treated. There are a few crazy people out there that you just can't please no matter what you try.
-Gary
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Writer's Block
Lately, it seems, I feel like I don't have much to write about. Just more of the same daily grind. Going to work, coming home, sleeping. It isn't that exciting is it?
Work is good, but there haven't been many sittings. It is going to get busy at the end of the month when we start doing the cap and gown photos for the high schools.
There have been plenty of people in to get passport photos taken. The other day there was an 18 month old referred to us by London Drugs because they couldn't get it right. It must suck to not have adjustable equipment. Even if your baby has a really little head, we can make it the right size in the photo, no problem.
The best news lately is that we're starting a three month house sitting stint on Monday. Hallelujah! We should have found a place our first day back. I guess we were a overwhelmed by being home and needed to be on vacation for a while.
-Gary
Work is good, but there haven't been many sittings. It is going to get busy at the end of the month when we start doing the cap and gown photos for the high schools.
There have been plenty of people in to get passport photos taken. The other day there was an 18 month old referred to us by London Drugs because they couldn't get it right. It must suck to not have adjustable equipment. Even if your baby has a really little head, we can make it the right size in the photo, no problem.
The best news lately is that we're starting a three month house sitting stint on Monday. Hallelujah! We should have found a place our first day back. I guess we were a overwhelmed by being home and needed to be on vacation for a while.
-Gary
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