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08/04/2005 09:41:00 AM · #1 |
...the continuing chronicles of my freelancing...
i was told that what happened was an anomaly...i still find it funny that it happened twice, back-to-back, in the same afternoon. wait, i'm getting ahead of myself--back to the beginning.
not that this has anything to do with the assignments, but the following is a pretty interesting case study of tracking people down...
i got to dc to shoot the sunset on the mall, not knowing that the group shoot had basically been scrubbed, and not knowing how to get in touch with anyone but clara. so, i shot a couple, then went to union station to hang out, waiting for dinner. i made my way up to a great vantage point for shooting the station, and gave my wife one last call. see, in my efforts to find 'the group', i had just about used up my cell battery. (it didn't help my battery, but it was worth the effort. i remembered that BradP and scalvert had a get together a few months ago. i called information for Poway, and got brad's number, and finally, thanks to his helpful wife, caught up with him at his shop. we chatted for over 30 minutes while he looked for shannon's number; unfortunately, it was programmed into a phone that had been replaced.) i told my wife i'd call her later.
my vantage point happened to be where the g2g was to be seated for dinner. this was fortuitous, as less than 10 minutes after i got there, a waitress came up to me and asked, 'are you skip?' she told me my wife was on the phone! as it turned out, right after we hung up, the photo director of the times dispatch called looking for me--he had two jobs for me for the next day. nina wasn't sure where i was, but she remembered my saying i was going to uno's for dinner. she tracked down the number, called, and asked if there were any photographers there. they told her they didn't think so, but they had seen a guy with a camera...
anyways, i got up with the photo director and told him, "sure, fax me the assignments, and i'll handle them." one was at 3:30pm, the other was at 5pm. even though they were about 45 minutes apart, i thought i had plenty of time to do them.
assignment #9 "Several of our region's football players are heading to college and are in the new college football game NCAA Football 2006. We would like to get Victor Harris and Noland Burchette, both Highland Springs grads, together, playing the game. Get a few photos of them enjoying the game."
I was to meet the reporter at his home, where he had the game set up to be played. only there was no one to play it. finally, one of the guys showed up with his brother. so i got some shots. a bit after 4, i told the reporter that i thought we would have to make do with what i had, seeing that i had another assignment to get to; he agreed, and i left. i was only gone 5 minutes before he called, wanting to know if i could come back, because the other guy was on his way! sure...so i did a quick u-turn, and booked back. everything was still set up, and it only took a minute to get what i needed.
then i jumped back out onto the interstate, and started booking cross town to the other assignment...
assignment #10 "The Midlothian Post 186 American Legion team will be playing a practice game before leaving for the state legion tournament. This is their last practice before leaving town. Please shoot feature shots and a head shot of 3rd baseman Sean Mitchell, one of the starts in Post 186's improbably 11th District title. Mitchell starred at Monacan, and is headed to Randolph-Macon College."
so, i get there at 5:02pm...and...THERE'S NOBODY THERE!!! i called the contact number (it was the team's coach), and his wife told me that her husband was at the movies. what?! i thought they were having a practice. oh, it was moved to this morning at 11 am. oh. i see...so i called the reporter and told him, and this took him by surprise as well. i tried calling the subject at home, but only got a message machine. oh well, what a waste. i got back on the interstate, and headed home.
10 minutes later, my phone rings, and it's the kid's dad. the reporter had somehow tracked him down and gave him my number. i made my second quick turnaround of the day and headed back. again, it only took a couple minutes to get the shots, but, it looks like it will be more than worth the aggravation...
see, the kid's father is a baseball coach, and he puts on tournaments that will draw 100-250 kids. and he recently parted ways with the photographer that used to shoot his events. it didn't help me that his son is going to school at a local college where i already have credentials ;-)
all in all, not a bad day or so, especially considering i had only had 3 hours sleep in the past 36 hours...
the next day, monday, i called the photo director to let him know the images had been sent in. after explaining to him what happened, i asked him just how anal i needed to be about these assignments; he assured me that it was an anomaly, that it really isn't normally like that. i told him i didn't want to be a pest, but i thought i would probably start calling everyone ahead of time, just to make sure we're all expecting the same thing. he didn't tell me not to. |
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08/10/2005 02:51:09 PM · #2 |
whoo-hoo! front page of the sports section, baby oh yeah!!!
the online article also has the picture...check it out!
this pretty much made my day. as for the other shoot, assignment #10, that will probably never see the light of day, as Post 186 lost in the tournament finals ;-( |
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08/10/2005 04:44:10 PM · #3 |
| Awesome Skip!! I love these threads about your job :) You need to save them for a book, or as an article to the newspaper |
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