Rest
13 Aug 2010
Why use a professional?
With the advent of digital cameras, photography has been flooded with 'photographers' all claiming to be 'professional' photographers, and I was even approached with the question why should I use a professional photographer when my mate's got a camera and takes a pretty good picture in the evenings and weekends when he's not doing his other job.. Well, let me tell you a story and then you'll realise why you use a professional.
It was a grey Monday morning and I was booked to shoot some vehicles on location, I wont give any location details but lets just say it was in the middle of the country and they all talked funny. There was myself, my trusty assistant Dan, and the art director who's identity shall remain anonymous but we'll call him 'D' for Dave. It was a pretty painless journey but having stopped to pick up an abundance of packets of Percy Pigs from Marks and Spencer we were in good spirits, and on arrival of the location we began setting up the shots.
The shots were to be taken inside a factory, it was an oldish looking factory but they had coffee and the radio was joyfully sending out Rhianna songs so we were in good shape. It didn't take long to get things set up and we began shooting as we normally would. We must have been shooting for no more than an hour maybe two, when I noted a strange smell in the air, I looked at 'D' as initially I thought he'd let one rip and he looked at me with the same inquisitive question in his eyes, it was then that it happened KAAAAABOOOOOOOMM ! An almighty explosion ripped through the building, people panicked, there was screaming, people were shouting, it was anarchy, I looked for Dan he was nowhere to be seen, we were in a bad way. I looked over to "D", he looked at me and said " What do you want to do Leon? " I said " I'm gonna get this shot Dave, (sorry 'D')... I'm gonna get this shot ". We carried on shooting with flames licking the back of our necks, and the heat burning to our inner core and finally after what seemed like an eternity we got the shot just in time to unscrew the camera and escape the roof falling in around us.. we'd made it.. we'd both made it.
We got outside and looked around in panic, where was Dan, I scoured the horizon, and there, standing in the crowd, was Dan, safe and sound. Luckily Dan had taken to his heels at the first sign of danger, he'd had wearing his new boots and we'd joked earlier in the day that they looked like 'hover boots' , I dont know if it was his new boots that whisked Dan to safety, but I was glad to see him.
Thankfully nobody was hurt in the fire and apparently factory production was back up to speed in a day or two. They still have no idea what caused the fire, the fire brigade think it could have been electrical but they cant be sure. I for one was just glad everyone was safe and well. On returning home everyone rushed to make sure we were OK, there were hoards of people all glad to see us back, and then through the crowds came the client, everything stopped, he looked at me and said " I heard it was bad" I said " Yeah it was bad" he said "did you get the shot: I said yeah, we got a shot" and then he said... " Thats why we use you Leon, for your dedication, your motivation,your inspiration, your creativity, your good looks, and the way you lighten up a room just by walking into it, (his words not mine), he continued... but above all Leon, we always know when things really hit the fan, we know you'll still deliver and that's what makes you a true professional, to which I thanked him, gave him a gentle kiss on his face, and walked off.
The end.