Real World Workflow

For all our gun nut fans out there. Here is a set photo of a gun we are shooting today. Enjoy.

Eric I. has a good point below in what to do during these trying times, mainly not to panic. The markets are definitely in serious disarray and that is definitely affecting our bottom line, but I do have a list of things you should definitely be doing as a tech right now.

First, invest in your business. Yes, that’s what I said. Do you know PS CS4 yet? Have you taken on C1 4.6? What about improving your workflow and troubleshooting routines? These are all things that we barely have time to keep up with when things are off the hook and now is the time to keep pressing on instead of worrying yourself sick. Making your business more efficient and productive, even when you’re not on set will give you an advantage in the future.

Second, (which Matt F alludes to in the comments section of Eric I’s post) Be Visible! Pick up the phone and talk to clients, not from the standpoint of instantaneous work (which would be nice), but rather from the perspective of forming a long term working relationship. Let them know what you can do to further their business. Is your specialty location work, with the God-gifted ability to backup files on multiple lappies while bouncing around in the back of the motorhome or on the floor of the airport check-in line? Or are you a catalog machine, who can keep track of all the crazy naming routines and still hand off a HD within minutes after the shoot? Let them know what you are capable of.

Third, consider how to bring more to the shoot, the going the extra mile kind of thing. What you want is to make yourself absolutely indispensable, the kind of person that people don’t want to be without on set. Personally, if someone asks me for help, I’m there. Whether it’s in my job description is immaterial, and I would argue that it actually is. From the stylist asking for an extra table to the editor wanting a place to plug in their laptop, I’m all over it. There’s no place for attitude on set, and being a “can do” kind of person will only lead to people wanting to work with you again.

I’m fortunate to be in the middle of a ten day job right now, and I’d like to say that it’s not all about luck, that working my ass off on the above things has led to the kind of relationships I’m talking about, but at the same time I’m still working harder than ever to improve myself as a tech and my business as well.

Take advantage of these times. There’s much to be done.

Well first off, don’t panic. Business-wise? We don’t know…maybe don’t spend money, pinch the pennies and offer better deals to keep working. Sorry we don’t have more but we do have lots of great photo-related activities that are free (or cheap) to keep you busy while we sort out this horrible mess (hopefully):

MOMA – Target Free Fridays
Every Friday from 4-8pm MOMA is free to the public. And they have a very interesting exhibit called The Printed Picture, which shows a history, in part, of photography all the way up to the digital image. a shimmer of possibility. Photographs by Paul Graham just started this month. And also, George Lois: The Esquire Covers until the end of March.

Brooklyn Museum: Target First Saturday – Every first saturday of the month, The Brooklyn Museum opens its doors to the public for free. In addition, for $20 you can join the 1stFans, A new first-of-its-kind socially networked Brooklyn Museum Membership. You can sign up for 1stFans here. Also you can participate in the Wikipedia Loves Art through the end of February – a nice little photo project to keep you busy.

The Whitney (Friday: 6–9 pm pay-what-you-wish admission) has Artists Making Photographs: Chamberlain, Rauschenberg, Ruscha, Samaras, Warhol which should prove to be interesting. Also keep in mind that most museums in NYC receive funding on a federal and state level, provided that they allow museum guests to “pay what they wish”. So don’t feel bad about giving less than the suggestion donation, if you cannot afford it.

FREE PANCAKES AT IHOP, BKLYN – February 24th, 2009: OK not photo related, but we got to eat right? On second thought there will be a line around the corner all day. I’d skip it and make them yourself at home, for cheap. In fact, here is the IHOP Pancake recipe, for free

Nonstick Spray
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
pinch of salt

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Use a pan with a nonstick
surface or apply a little nonstick spray.
2. In a blender or with a mixer, combine all of the remaining
ingredients until smooth.
3. Pour the batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch
circles.
4. When the edges appear to harden, flip the pancakes. They should
be golden brown.
5. Cook pancakes on the other side for same amount of time, until
golden brown.
Makes 8 to 10 pancakes.

Brooklynbased.net
Check out Brooklynbased.net for more information on free and cheap things to do in Brooklyn. Some of you live here, some of you have yet to visit. Now is a good time, since you are just sitting around doing nothing.

Update Your Portfolio & Other Marketing Endeavors
Now is as good as a time as ever to work on your own book. Several studios are offering really good deals on testing and are opening their doors up to anyone to get people in during these turbulent times: Blue Sky SF for our viewers in San Francisco. I worked out there last year for a few days and the studio is a pretty nice. Here in NYC there is Neo Studios, two decent sized studios at an affordable price. Tribeca Skyline Studios – although I haven’t visited yet, they have been very outgoing and are a new startup so it’s probably a good bet that you are going to get a good deal to start.

Printing Your Book
Blurb.com is an excellent source for printing your portfolio and presenting it the way you want it. For less than $100 you can have a fully customized portfolio printed and bound with a dust jacket. Sure beats the very static leatherbound portfolios that cost $400+.

Printing Business Cards
Moo.com offers custom made business cards, mini-cards, PostCards and stickers, all of which make nice marketing materials. And they start at about $9.99. Quality is great.

Adhesive NYC
It started as an attempt to hook two of their friends up on a date. Its turned into a pretty big networking event at some pretty cool locations (Swift, Ace Bar, & The Frying Pan, to name a few). Don’t bring your book. Just bring some good conversation skills, a few cards and a few bucks for beer. The next ADHESIVE event is February 24, 6:30pm at Swift.

Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments below.

Hey Gang, this is something worth checking out. I really believe in giving back, the what goes around comes around kind of thing. It’s one of the reasons me and Eric I. started this blog. Call it karma if you want. I just think it’s the right thing to do on just about any occasion. My friend Cameron Davidson has been working with the Community Coalition for Haiti for some time now, and is offering up some of his spectacular aerial prints with the proceeds going to this program, which helps Haitian farmers and children live a better life. Take a look, and see if maybe there’s a way you can contribute…if not here, than maybe to some other cause that moves you.

While Noah’s 40 day flood was an admittedly epic event, I had something similar happen last week when a pipe burst in my NY apartment.

OK, maybe it wasn’t as epic, but coming home to find my bedroom crammed into my living room and no heat on a twelve degree winter night sucked pretty bad. It also caused me to take stock of the household items and make sure the insurance co. had an updated schedule of everything. While in the process of doing this, I hadn’t really realized what I carry around in my pack when I’m on tech jobs in and out of NYC. It’s only when it’s all spread out that you get a good idea of what’s in the sucker. There’s a few items missing, but generally this is what I have with me at all jobs whether I’m hopping the 6-Train or settling into UA flight #5 seat 23B.

Most items are self-explanatory, especially to us techs. Wacom tablet, MBP, Wiebetech external drive and cable pouch are always with me so that even if the machine I’m working on dies and the backup does too, I still have a way to keep the shoot running. A few items like flash drives and QP cards didn’t make it out for the pic, though I swear they’re in there somewhere. The Camera pouch is for the G10, which is always with me and was used for this pic. The Bose QC 3 headphones Eric I. turned me on to, and they are indispensible though expensive. Being able to use the noise canceling feature has saved me on many flights where getting some much needed rest wouldn’t have happened otherwise. There’s also an iPhone charger, because someone always needs to charge their iPhone, and I can’t get through a day of heavy usage without it. Notebook , dvd’d sharpies, card reader, blah, blah. All I know is that if I don’t have them, I’ll be cussing up a storm soon enough, so in they go. Lastly are the personal effects, because you never know when the shoot gets extended and you’re off to some far away town with the clothes on your back.

The pack itself is a Patagonia Lightwire 25 that is the best I’ve found so far. It has a waist belt, which I think is essential when you’ve got 20+lbs of stuff crammed in there, and it has a suspended pouch for the computer so it doesn’t smack the ground every time you put the pack down. There are some other bags like the Booq series that I’d love to test out, but for now the Patagonia suits me just fine.

Anyway, that’s it in a nutshell, or Patagonia if you prefer. I’d love to hear what you carry and what pack/items you wouldn’t want to be without.

Oh and it’s 58 degrees in NYC today! In Feb. no less. Time to go for a walk with the pooch in Central Park.

Thats right, from TechRestore, a way to put a matte screen on a new MBP. The new 17″ MBP has a matte option direct from Apple, so maybe the next generation of 15″ MBP’s won’t suffer from reflectivitus either.

One can hope.

Not So Glossy MBP Screen

This is actually from several months ago, but I’m finally getting around to putting it up. The rig is from Eran at 5 Leg Digital, a great setup if you ever need something for a location. The photographer is actually above and behind me on a stone wall. We spent about 10 hours on location that day, from sunup to sundown, getting this damn thing in every possible lighting. Thank god the ranger station let us recharge our batteries in their office.