Feeling Resilient
Last week was full of some serious ups and downs. I had two assignments and they both offered unique challenges. I had a casual portrait session which mostly went without a hitch, but I made one critical blunder. I mentioned last week that I was excited because I would be able to use my medium format camera for this session. I got a bunch of digital shots and then in a frenzy broke out the RB67. I was excited because the digital shots were coming out so well. It's very difficult to switch from digital to this beastly film camera. It's not even the matter of switching from automatic focusing and metering to fully manual. It's the added steps just to get it working. To use the RB67 I have to make sure my exposure and focus is right, that I have the right film back on, make sure the film back is in the right orientation, I have to make sure I'm cocking both the shutter and advancing the film, and most critically I have to remove the darkslide to actually expose the film. Guess what I forgot to do for the entire session? Yep, the darkslide stayed in. I shot one full roll of film (only 8 exposures on the RB67) with the darkslide in, meaning light could not get to the film when I opened the shutter. There is supposed to be a safety function on the camera to prevent the shutter from firing when the slide is in but this camera is 40-50 years old and whatever mechanism does that is broken. Technically the film could still be usable but I would have to find a way to re-spool the roll in total darkness and I just don't have the time or patience to do that. Bye-bye $12 roll of Kodak Portra 160. So there are no film shots from the session. It's fine though, the digital shots came out great. Ashley was a great subject. We spent more time talking about our kids than we did shooting.
Then on Saturday I had a very special assignment shooting a birthday party for a woman with early-onset dementia. This shoot was hands down the most challenging shoot I've ever done. Photographing a person with dementia wasn't even the hard part. This shoot was just disaster after disaster. Boston traffic (this was the same day as the marathon), parking, terrible lighting conditions, equipment failures, lots of people in a small space, SPILLED WINE, and one of the guests had a major medical emergency. It was a lot! But you know what, I got through it unfazed. Like, clock in/clock out, did my job. Two years ago this shoot would have broken me. This year, I left the assignment feeling fine (as I walked 8 blocks carrying my gear in the street so no one robbed me), mostly wondering how much of the shoot I could actually talk about in this newsletter. It feels good to be at this point. I have crisis management skills I definitely didn't have in previous years. I'm not going to share actual pictures of the party but I will share some of the fancy sushi they served.
All I have on the calendar this week is a maternity shoot in Manchester, New Hampshire but next week it's BACK TO THE WEDDING GRIND. Shooting the challenging birthday party last week made me miss shooting weddings, so I can't wait.