Morning everyone!
I wanted to share some behind-the-scenes images from a shoot I did yesterday. I've been off the clock as a fashion photographer for a while. There's lots of reasons for it, but, a buddy of mine asked for a favor to help someone whom he things is a rising star, so I said, 'sure, why not.' It was only a couple hours of my time and I'd been hankering to do something creative with other people for a while. If you've ever wondered what a photoshoot looked like from the photographers perspective, this is it :) Small scale, but still the same. It was just me, the stylist (my friend), and the singer.
Generally lots of walking.
Lots of cell phones. Lots of preening. And, very little conversation with the photographer...at least for this shoot. I realized from the beginning that it was less of an organic artistic shoot as it was described to me, and more a pointed PR moment with me just shooting the stuff they needed. The collaboration being that I made sure to get the best pics I could, while styling, theme, etc, was left up to them. It's very frustrating as a struggling photographer, but not that uncommon. I loved a lot of the shots we got, but it was more work than it was fun.
I still remember the moment
Where the singer was doing an Instagram story as we were walking to the first scene, and she was like, 'I'm here on a photoshoot with my favorite boo (the stylist)....' and went on to say a couple more things. After she finished I asked, 'what about me, I'm here too.' Which elicited an awkward laugh. It continued to be awkward for about 5 minutes...until she asked my name again. There were several more instances like that before the shoot ended...
These are the moments when you realize you are just being used. The moment that star catches, if it does, you're forgotten. The guy who doesn't get invited to the parties, who isn't talked with during the shoot, whose name isn't remembered. Yeah, these are the moments. I watch my 'friends' do this to me, as they hire another photographer to do the paid work on a regular basis, and am expected to keep a smile on my face and keep shooting, keep pretending it isn't happening right in front of me. And the moment I mention it, I'm then suddenly excluded completely from that world.
Which, come to think of it, might be what I want. Steemit has shown me another way of life. One that doesn't involve as much B.S.. Or at least I haven't stepped in it yet, hehe.
