I did a photo shoot this past with a high end real estate stager. I have known him for some time and he owns a ton of my prints that he uses in his staging projects. But we had never directly worked together. So we are giving it a whirl. It is more like editorial, or catalog photography than real estate. Showing off the elements of design mostly. And mostly more fun too. Looking for interesting imagery instead of trying to figure out how to make a photo of the messy laundry room.
But then I get on location. This $7mil house is already sold and we have to document it before the move out. Fairly straight forward project I was actually looking forward to. Except when I notice that my main camera battery is very low. No problem, I will grab the spare. But the spare isn’t in the bag. I look at my second camera. The battery is low too…oh shit, and I start to sweat. I am half an hour from my studio, so no running there to grab the spare… I go great… New client, first project and I could go dead in the water… I start sweating more. Of course that could have something to do with the fire place roaring and me wearing a wool sweater. But I don’t panic, I know these batteries have long charges. So I just have to get to work and trust everything will be fine, don’t think about it… Worse case scenario, if both batteries died on me, I can play the Prima Dona card and say We’re Done Here… And not let on. I get on with things. Eventually the main camera battery begins to blink..death is imminent. I am maybe 2/3rds done. At that point the real estate agent for the property asks how much longer? My client leaves for a dental appointment, leaving me with his assistant. I say maybe half an hour. I stop sweating, knowing I am good, even if we left at that moment. Battery dies. I pull the battery from camera two and keep on rolling. I finish up with power to spare. I dodged a bullet. In the old days, I would have had an assistant and sent them back to my studio for the spare battery that is normally with me. But now I have to work mostly alone and have to think on my feet. And trust that whatever I do, it will most likely be fine. But sometimes I think it is good when you have to sweat things out. Makes you work at it harder. And next time I won’t forget the spare batteries.
