Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't complain, because I do something I love. But working a long day is still a long day. Even if you love it "Work mode" still wears your brain and body down.
I've had a couple people say "oh, you just push a button all day." Well, that's not exactly true you stupid-faced idiot.
That is a fraction of a second that you push a button, the other hours and hours are carrying nearly 40 pounds of gear while moving through obstacles (whether they be fences, police/fire blockades, crowds of snot-faced children or alligators) to find the right spot to make a dynamic, creative image. Sometimes you walk, run, crawl or climb to get your shot. Sometimes you have to argue for the right to even do your job. Sometimes you get yelled at, leered at, threatened with a beating, a lawsuit or that "I'll have you fired."
All that while staying at a mental frequency which balances the technical and creative requirements of the job. Yeah, anyone can take a photo if they have a camera. But that's like saying anyone can paint if they have a brush. It doesn't mean it's going to be any good.
The biggest challenge, sometimes, is to stay creative when I'm exhausted. I never like being the "good enough" type of photographer, even when I'm tired. So you have to carry on AND try to create something beautiful or at the very least story telling.
So you can come home physically and mentally exhausted. Which can cause for some frayed relationships at home. But that's a whole other discussion.
On Saturday I shot a marathon (how fitting) in the morning, had to hunt for a garage sale to shoot, two send-offs for local soldiers, highway construction, a political dinner and a plane crash. Only two were in the same town around the same time, so it was a lot of driving.
The marathon had a marathon, 1/2 marathon and a 50k. Not only did they have to run fifty Ks...whatever those are, they had to run up a massive bridge.
Damn, that's a huge bridge!
I shot them coming down and one of the guys thanked me for not getting them coming up it, which would have been sweet, but wouldn't have worked like I wanted for this shot.
So the two bigger things from the day were soldier send-offs by the Brazoria County Cavalry. I hadn't shot one of their rides before and now I had two in one day! I like the group and they seem to enjoy the coverage, so win-win.
Very patriotic, despite the bug guts
I shot a bunch of photos. Gallery 1 Gallery 2
Kind of trying to scattershot so I had a variety to use for the paper and to try and sink some reprint money. Purchased so far = 0. :*(
I don't take it personally or even really fret about it, because it's hard to judge when people will buy reprints, I'd like them to buy them as soon as the gallery comes up, but one of my favorite shots (that I blogged earlier) was purchased a month or so after I shot the thing. So you never know.
Got some okay stuff.
The city declared it a day in honor of him because he was leaving for Afghanistan
The Republican dinner I had to shoot was pretty boring, as is kind of the norm for dinners. Yeah, you get free food, but if you are tired and want the day to be over you want stuff to happen now so you can get your shots and go. Some of the Cavalry people were actually there and commented on me having a long day.
Nothing super awesome from this one, except my shot of CONSPIRACY!
Well, probably not, but it certainly looks like it. The guy on the right just looks like he's up to something or he has to poop.
Here is your envelope stuffed with cash. Now...where is the truckload of baby teeth?
**Note: Grain and effects may have been added to heighten the dramatic mood of the photo. :D
In the middle of this, luckily after I ate a plate of cold food, a reporter called to tell me a small plane crashed.
I have no pictures I want to share, because they all make me mad to look at. I bounced around the area for awhile, looking for the best place. Having fire fighters tell me one area I could go and police telling me I couldn't go there.
It was frustrating, because I couldn't even get within a half-mile.
It ended up my best chance was to stop along the highway, climb up a tree and shoot with a long lens while balanced on a limb.
All I got were lights in a forest, it was kind of lame.
But when I get back to the office the reporter tells me the chief of police emailed us shots he took on his iphone. Made me feel like a worthless piece of crap.
But by the end of the day I didn't care anymore.
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