What I did on Wednesday afternoon. After a nice lunch with one of my favorite creative directors. Before dinner. With a camera.

 

jana. Shot for the Commercial Photographers Handbook book

All the way back in 2009. Time flies when you're photographing...

I photographed Wednesday for a start-up technology company. Their employees traveled from all over the USA to attend an embedded systems trade show at the Austin Convention Center. I have worked with the company for two years -- since their launch. I've made interesting portraits for their website and some fun composited photos for other projects as well. It's always fun and a bit fascinating to work with start-ups the entire staff of which --- including the founders --- is roughly half of my age. They are so filled with enthusiasm for their projects.

I got to the center around 2:30 p.m. and met up with the company marketing person who helped get me show credentials. Once I got my badge we headed back outside to scout for a few locations for group photos. Then we headed in to the main floor of the show so I could make images of their booth, their environmental graphics  and the staffs' interactions with a number of curious, potential customers. 

I got somewhere around 150 photos before we collectively headed down the hall to one of the breakout conference rooms so I could photograph company's CTO speaking to a raptly attentive audience. 

All of this work was done with available light --- handheld. 

After the speech, back at the booth, we did an "all hands" group shot right at that day's close of show. Then we all headed outside to do more group shots. We did two different locations for the whole group. One location for smaller group comprising the company's engineers, and then three different locations (all within 50 feet of each other ) for shots of the enterprise's four founders. 

I took a different tack than usual. I didn't burden myself with excessive gear. In fact, I wondered on the way to the shoot if I had under-packed. I took one "real" camera; the Leica SL2-S, and two lenses; the 35mm f2.0 Sigma lens and the 90mm f2.8 Sigma. My back-up camera was a Q2. I tossed in an extra battery for the cameras and also the Leica SF-64 flash. That's it. That's everything. And you know what? It all worked out just exactly as I'd hoped. 

The SL2-S has earned a reputation as a stellar low light camera and I tried to push the envelope but the camera won. I shot, handheld, at 1/125th of second at 12,600 ISO for some of the stage shots of our speaker. I was working in raw with the idea that I could fix noise issues with the super powerful DeNoise feature in Lightroom. Didn't need it. Not in the least. The images looked like the ISO 200 images I used to get out of pre-2010 cameras. It's that good. AF? If you are trying to follow a running person in the dark the AF might not meet your specialized needs but, for me? it works perfectly. 

Every time. 

But how are those lenses? Well, I've been playing with a Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.0 Milvus lens and a Voigtlander 35mm f2.0 APO lens and I have to say that the Sigma hangs in there without taking a backseat to either of those two. Sharp, bright, contrasty and quick to focus. Same with the 90mm. Although I only used the 90mm for stage shots of the speaker (no extra lighting on the speaker; just room lights....). 

The Leica flash is made for the L mount cameras and it's good. It recycles fast and now I'm used to the interface so that's good too. The one thing I think it lacks is an HSS mode (it has an automatic HSS function with appropriate cameras) and I wish it had been a feature for the images I shot of groups outside. But on a camera with clean shadows you can shoot a bit dark, add in as much fill as you can with the flash and then raise the shadows in post for frames that look natural and well exposed. 

I arrived on site at 2:30 and I was gone and back into rush hour traffic by 5 pm. I got home around 6 and sat down to work on post production right away. By 7:30 all 346 selected images were edited, sized and uploaded for transfer to the client and I headed out for dinner. I sent along an invoice the next morning. 

Got paid, via credit card, the same afternoon. Since the pandemic we've decided to stop working for any client who demands the ability to wait 30, 60, or 90 days to effect payment. Why would they need to? And for the last year, with inflation so rampant, waiting 60  or 90 days for payment is like having to grant an unwanted discount that grows larger every day you have to wait. All our projects are now negotiated as C.O.D. And that "concept" of C.O.D. is rigorously enforced.

This was a speedy little job for a fun group of people. I'll net enough to cover my month's burn rate for the household. It was job #30 this year. A quick check on the calendar shows that I've spent a whopping 62 days working on client projects in 2024. We have a few more projects to go before the end of the year. This will be the first non-pandemic year since I started the business in which we probably won't crack the six figure mark for income but that's okay since I made a conscious decision at the beginning of the year to start ramping down the business, bit by bit. 

Today was set aside for swimming and playing. Out to eat with B. Discovered a new, local bakery that's fantastic. Debating where to go for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow the temperature will reach a forecasted 99° which will set a new record high for the date. A day best spent at swim practice and then lounging in the air conditioning with a good book and some iced coffee. A couple weeks till the birthday. You still have time to send along a Leica Q3-43 if you have the inclination to reward your favorite blogger.... Can't believe I'll be 69. Only one more year until the strange pleasure of Social Security. That should be an interesting transition. Right?