It's about more than the work...
While I am in the business of booking gigs…
…sometimes the work is more about the relationship with the client than it is about the paycheck.
When I first began volunteering as a photography sponsor for the New York City chapter of the National Speakers Association, I felt pretty uncomfortable and out of place.
While everyone else seemed to know everyone else, I was the quiet guy patrolling the crowd perimeter with a camera in my hand, awkwardly trying to stay out of eyesight as I snapped candid photos of the interactions happening during the meetings.
While those first few meetings had some uncomfortable moments, there also were a handful of positive moments - and people, too.
One of the people that always made me feel welcome was Tami.
Sensing that I felt like a fish out of water, she constantly expressed gratitude for my service to the chapter, complimented the work created during the meetings, and made me feel like I belonged in the room.
That meant a lot to me back then, and I haven't forgotten about that since.
That's why when she told me recently that she’s flying back to NYC to perform her one-woman-show, Off The Rails, I moved things around in my schedule to be able to capture photos of her run-through.
I’ve photographed her addressing chapter members on several occasions throughout the years, but this was a different story. It sounded like a really interesting project.
I was excited to see what she put together and help create some visual assets that she could use to help promote her theatrical performance:
It’s very rare that I have this much access to move around the action during a stage-based performance, so I made sure to take advantage of the opportunity.
Since the staging is basically a sweater, two chairs, and a black box, the goal was to find all of the unique vantage points in the space to create a wealth of wide, medium and close-up shots by simply focusing on Tami’s performance…
…her movement, body language, posture and facial expressions.
Fortunately, there was plenty of that to work with as she is quite demonstrative throughout her performance.
With the visual variety captured in this portfolio, Tami now has enough visual assets to leverage in a wide variety of ways, including all of her marketing and PR image needs.
And I got to help support a friend when she needed it…
Just another magical day at the office :)