Beware the Ides of March... to be frank it couldn't have been any worse than January and February which were so dead a weaker compulsive careerist would have found themselves instinctively reaching for the alternative employment folder.
I'd been telling my wife that my regular commissions would be coming in imminently and that my networking and one man marketing campaign would start to reap dividends. It is with some great relief that I have been proved right for this month I've shot portraits, round-tables, business seminars, as well as doing some freelance design work. I've even managed to fit in some pro bono - photographic not legal - for my ex-employers.
I had left my art directors position on good terms and had received a decent redundancy package so felt I owed my ex-CEO, Mike a favour. I offered to do some portraits of him and his fellow directors and he said he would take up the offer once the current pictures needed updating. Well my ex-CEO Mike is now the ex-CEO of my ex-employers but my ex-employers remembered my offer and asked if it still stood.
Although I am fully expecting Mike to also call in this favour once his new business is up and running my offer still stood. It's not like I'm busy and in this game you can never get too much practise. And that is how I found myself last week with my assistant H in very familiar surroundings doing a freebie. H incidentally is a BA pilot - so you see it's not just me.
I shot clean 'safe' portraits against a white wall which would be perfect for PR shots and then did another set on a black cloth backdrop with a bit more mood and thus more versatile. I was initially booked to shoot 3 directors but a couple of the editors were added to the list which was fine but meant that the pace was pretty hectic. I said to H after that not all shoots are 'like the ones he'd assisted me on which have tended to be a bit conveyor belt.
How I long for a single person shoot where the sitter invites me to their local we share a pint and a bite, get to know each other, discuss the type of shots we're trying to achieve then go back to their home and shoot iconic shots that will enhance my reputation and boost my bank balance through world-wide syndication rights. But Annie (Liebovitz) tends to get those and even she's skint!
Anyways I've posted a picture from the session of Amy Carroll who wasn't part of the original trio to be photographed. She is the editor of Real Deals magazine – a venture capital and private equity publication. I'm tempted to try and intellectualise the image and say that when set against the testosterous private equity boys club in which she plys her trade Amy appears vulnerable... and that if you look closely you will see that there is a toughness about her. But that would be a little disingenuous. I simply like the way the lighting works on her quite amazing eyes.
This week Erroll has; watched a few episodes of The Wire Season 4; downloaded the new Prodigy album Invaders must die and played Lego Star Wars with his two kids.
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