Shooting 11 assignments in 4 1/2 hours

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/7.1, 1/100

It is very common when I call photo assistants that I have to tell them I am not sure all that we are doing today. We may be setting up and taking lights down all day long as we go around a college or school campus.

It is very common for me to shoot what would normally be about 10 to 12 assignments all packed into one day. On this assignment I packed in 11 locations in 1/2 day.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5.6, 1/640

Here was my shot list for Thursday 1/2 day of shooting at a Catholic High School:

• Science Lab
• Helicopter Aerial Photo Shoot of Campus
• Students by statue of Mary & Jesus
•  Female by herself
• Male by himself
• Male and Female
• Drums from around the World Class
• Spanish Class
• Computer Class teaching Adobe Illustrator
• Small group in the Library
• Priest Teaching class
• Priests with students and talking in lobby
• Calculus Class
• Robotics Class

Here are some of the photos


Click here to see the photos in slide show larger.

The skills I give to my clients is to walk into any situation and come away with photos that will engage their audience. Any situation can require special lighting skills to shooting available light and even knowing how to shoot aerial photos of a campus.

I am not give time to brain storm and come up with lots of ideas. I am given less than a couple minutes to come up with an approach and then execute it in about 30 to 40 minutes. This includes setting up studio strobes and taking them down to go to our next location. I work with two assistants to make this go quickly.

The hardest part is the client who has not worked with a professional who is going to make each location look the very best by creating light may not be aware of the time it takes for each location. They may be use to seeing the local newspaper reporter come in and take a few photos and then they write a story. Those photographers typically use no flash or on camera flash due to the speed they need to work and the fact that most of the time the photo is reproduced Black and White.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 250, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

 With 30+ years of shooting for colleges, national publications and major brands I have enough experience to see the big picture from a high altitude for my clients. If you need a big perspective to pick the best visual approach for your storytelling, give me a call. If you just want to learn how to do this yourself call me to schedule a class.