How to handle busy...

I haven't blogged in a little while, because I've been pretty busy.  Besides my regular clients, I've had a few extra shoots to squeeze into my schedule.  Plus, I've been dealing with the massive amounts of planning that come with a major record label album cover shoot.  

I figured this would be a good topic to discuss.  You can find all sorts of great blogs and web tutorials about proper lighting, but rarely do you hear about the before and after parts of a shoot.  Let me tell you this:  The bigger the shoot, the bigger the pay, and the bigger the amount of pre and post work that has to be done.  You NEED to factor this into your budget.  

Let me run down the list of things that you will most likely be responsible for during a major label shoot worth thousands to tens of thousands of dollars (depending on the popularity of the artist).  Some things you will delegate to other people on your team, but you are still responsible to make sure it happens.  

First, you will need to hire a photo assistant.  You don't want to waste time moving lights or messing with little things when you could be discussing details with the band or the art director.  You could be visualizing your next shot or looking over images already shot.  A photo assistant is there to move things, set up things, watch things, and basically be an extra set of hands, eyes, and ears for you.  Labels out of New York expect you to have one and won't mind seeing the fee on your invoice.  

These days, you may also have a digital tech on set.  With the added hassle of downloading and backing up images, previewing images, and all the other junk associated with digital photography, this person will be a necessity.  The digi tech will be taking all your CF cards and manning the computer, making sure all your precious images are safe.  

Next is the make-up artist and/or stylist.  I say and/or, because you might only need one or you might need both.  For easy-going rock bands, I usually just get a stylist who knows a little about taking shine off skin and fixing up some stray hairs.  It saves several hundred dollars that a make-up artist would add into the mix.  However, some shoots will keep a stylist so busy with clothing, accessories, and other styling prep work.... some shoots may require specialized or excessive make-up skill.  These are the shoots to hire both.  

Who is handling catering?!?  For all my album shoots, I've just had to pack a cooler with some drinks and a basket with some snacks.  Every once in a while, you may be working on such a big production that you will hire a separate catering company to deal with this.  I've done it for a huge multi-day advertising shoot, but most bands just want snacks and drinks on set.  

Props?!?  Did someone say props?  Yes, you will work with your stylist and art director to find and approve all the items you need for the shoot.  My shoot coming up next week requires a big sheet birthday cake with a certain phrase written on it.  Who is going to order it and pick it up?  Most of the time, it will be you.  It could also be your assistant or your stylist, depending on the amount you are paying them.  

Where are you shooting?  The last time I shot this band, I had them come to Dallas and I had some pretty good ideas in my head of where to go.  I still had to spend a day driving around and getting images of the places to share with the label in New York, so they could give final approval.  This day needs to be factored into your fee, or you are basically working that day for free.  

There is another option, and that is to hire a location scout.  These people will be extra handy if you are flying into a different city to shoot.  You may not arrive with enough time to scout the area, or you may be too busy shooting for other clients to take a day off of shooting to scout.  Scouts cost money, but can be useful.  

OK, so the what, when, where, and who are all taken care of.   Wait a minute...  We have the "behind the lens" who figured out, and we know the band will be the who in front of the camera, but what about... extras?  Yup, you may be asked to cast any extras for the shoot.  That takes time, sometimes a lot of time.  Luckily, the band is casting the extras for this upcoming shoot.  That saves me hours of calling around and meeting with or auditioning people.  

Oh, did we discuss what you are shooting with?  No??  Did you discuss it with the label???  No????  Guess what... every client has slightly different needs and expectations from you.  This one wants me to shoot RAW, but also give them TIFF conversions.  Some may ask for a minimum file size.  Some may expect you to be shooting medium format digital.  And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  

What about lighting?  Do you have everything you need?  Are you shooting away from an electrical outlet and need to rent a generator or battery-powered strobes?  I've rented a Profoto 7B pack in the past so I could have studio quality lighting and still be 100% battery-powered to go anywhere during the shoot.  Of course, I have my own Profoto brand kit these days, but what if I needed to rent extra heads or an extra power pack?  

You need to factor in the time and money to rent the gear, even considering the time it took to drive down to the photo district and pick up the stuff.  If you are shooting over the weekend, you need to go pick up the rental gear on Friday.  Are you able to take time out of your schedule to do it?   I hope so, or you'll be paying an assistant to do it for you or an extra day of rental fee to pick it up early.  

Think you have all the pre-shoot figured out now?  Nope, not even close.  Most likely, unless you live in NY or LA, you will do all your planning by phone and email.  Heck, even if you are in the same city, you will still probably do 90% of the planning via phone conferences and emails.  You know what happens?  A bunch of talking that takes even more time.  A bunch of emails to read and respond to.  And I mean a BUNCH!!!  This label is planning to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, off this band.  They are going to be bugging you night and day, bombarding you with questions and comments, making sure things are perfect.  

For my one day of scheduled shooting next week, I've probably already spent a full day of reading emails and making phone calls each week.  I have dealt with at least a hundred emails over the last few days from a million different people.  Several label execs, the art director, a few of the band members, my stylist, other people I hired, the band's management, some guy who is making some clothing for the shoot, the location contact, and on and on and on.  

I'll stop there, because this is pretty long now.  There is a bunch of post-shoot stuff to deal with, but I'll save that for another day.  The point was to make sure you understand what goes into a shoot that might bill the cost of a new car or more.  The photog didn't just come up with a magical number and grab his point and shoot.  That photog earned every penny through a TON of work for a handful of final images.  

If you land a big gig like this, you had better start asking what the budget is, what the shoot ideas are, and a million of the questions covered above, so you can accurately figure out the REAL cost of taking the pictures.  If they say you will be given five grand for the shoot and all image rights, then expect you to eat four grand in production costs (assistants, location fees, catering, make-up and props, etc), you might be getting ripped off.  If they say you will get a five grand creative fee, you retain your copyright, plus get to bill ALL the expenses to them, you might be able to pull something like this off and still feed your family at the end of the day...