When I was a young child, I thought about becoming a comic! My sisters and I would create live plays to perform for our neighbors. The plays or shorts as we called them, had a funny bend to them. The stories or ideas ranged from family life to what it would be like as an adult. We even had an annual Halloween play with sound effects and decorations. I was asked, by a student in one of my workshops, what was the funniest occurrence on a job. Here is a small selection of those funny moments. Short prose that will hopefully make you smile.
Mishaps, miscommunications, and human error can happen on any photoshoot. I want to share my experiences so they can be avoided in your future photo or video shoot.
Always make sure your creative team understands your directions-to the “T”. I had a hairstylist take over a bathroom, in a hotel room, for over an hour creating a hair look I did not ask for. When the model emerged with super kinky huge hair, I did not know what to say or do. Time was not on my side. After taking the hairstylist aside and explaining the hair was not what I wanted and did not want for the second model, I started to shoot. My make-up artist and I pulled the model’s super kinky frizzy hair back and created a new look. I later changed the model’s hair in photoshop.
Use a tone of voice that is strong and calm. I had a celebrity fashion shoot. The celebrity was attended by her mother and publicist. While shooting the celebrity, tethered to my laptop, my assistant caught my eye. He made a gesture to look at the laptop, which was behind me. The publicist was taking photos with her camera as they were coming up on the laptop. I gently put my camera down and addressed the publicist. Me- “What are you doing? You can not be doing that while I am shooting.” Publicist-”I just want to make sure I have something as a reference. I won’t use them”. Me-” If you keep photographing my images on the laptop, I will stop the photoshoot”. The publicist stopped taking photos and the photoshoot continued.
Sometimes you need to call the model booker. I had an outdoor fashion shoot last summer in my local park. I had included in my reference photos and photoshoot description to the whole creative team and modeling agency that we would be shooting bathing suits. The model we booked was very opinionated and offended everyone on the team except for me and the make-up artist. The creative team was not happy and felt like their work was not appreciated. When it came time to photograph the bathing suits, the model refused. She told us she talked it over with the booker the day before and didn’t have to wear them. While the model was getting her make-up changed, I went to a quiet place and called the booker. I explained what was happening and that the bathing suits were not only essential to the editorial but agreed upon prior to shoot. Booker agreed and said to give him 15 minutes to call the model. I pulled the model aside and had the only conversation I ever had with a model that her behavior and attitude stank. And that I called her booker who was not happy with her either. The model spoke with a booker. Bathing suits were photographed for editorial, which was the opening page to editorial.
How to avoid your make-up artist from going crazy. I had a location fashion shoot with two models. One model did not like the make-up that was done for the editorial. The model wiped off the lip and eye color and reapplied the make-up to her liking with her own make-up. While photographing the other model, the make-up pulled me aside, told me what happened, and threatened to quit the shoot. I finished photographing the other model. After calming down the make-up artist, I found the other model in another area. With the make-up artist at my side, I explained to the model that the make-up artist was in charge of the make-up and she would have to sit through another round of make-up changes that I wanted. The model agreed and we finished photographing the editorial.
Do your homework before a photoshoot or workshop. I recently taught a photography workshop for Manhattanhenge, where the sun descends in alignment with certain streets in Manhattan. My workshop was in a Long Island City park. I followed the directions given to me, from the school founder, but did not do my own research as to where exactly we should be standing in this park. I gather up the students together, form a group, and give the students lecture. As we were waiting for the sunset, a few students asked if we were in the right spot. I assured them we were in the right location. After some research on their cellphones, one of the students realized we were in the wrong place! With little time to spare, I moved the students, with their cameras and tripods to the correct location. One of the students had some stern words that I should have known where to go from the start, since they paid for the workshop. I apologized and said I would do my homework next time.