Journal Entry # 13: Meeting The New Freelancer

Wednesday December 3

After the holidays I was surprised to find that I was FINALLY going to be working with someone who can actually teach me. I immediately introduced myself to him properly. I was eager to ask many questions (which I did). Francisco (freelancers name), showed me how to set up his two strobes properly. He was explaining to me what a pain in the butt it is to carry them from his home in upper east side. He also explained to me many of the places he has worked for have strobes ready for photographers to use. Despite this set back we worked together moving the furniture and getting the angles the way Dyann likes them. Francisco explained that one of the strobes is set up pointing at the background to make it pure white. The other one was pointed at the subject. Each one had an umbrella soft box . What that modifier did was bounce the light off the reflective umbrella and through the white sheet in front of it. This makes a softer light which means softer shadows. I asked Francisco how could I achieve the same effect with the florescent lights I had. He basically said I’m screwed, but he said the way I am currently doing it is probably my best chance at getting close to a white background. He also explained those types of lights would be perfect for filming rather than photography. At the end of the day Dyann was really pleased with the images. Later after packing and after Francisco left I spoke with Sheri about the possibility of Propnspoon purchasing strobes. Sheri said it could be possible they try and invest in them. I explained Francisco struggle in getting here and also that it would be a great investment for future interns. Sheri said she will talk with Francisco about prices and models.

Journal Entry # 14: Editing Better Lit Images vs. Poorly Lit

Thursday December 4

Today Maggy and I came to a really awesome surprise. The images taken with the strobes were way easier to edit. This is because the background is pure white and easy to select with the select tool. This cut down editing time in half and we used the pen tool very few times. There were some cases we ran into white items, but we pulled through. Before the strobes Maggy and I were forced to use the pen tool, which is the proper way, but also the most time consuming. The whites in the previous images wasn’t pure white, which made it difficult to select.

Journal Entry # 15: How To Properly Quite An Internship

Friday December 5

Today it was the day Jenny and I would work together. Francisco is only able to be with us on Wednesdays. I informed Jenny about the Freelancer Wednesday, but unfortunately she quite Friday morning. Sheri was upset and explained to me that the way Jenny quite was unprofessional. This is because Jenny sent an email at the time she is suppose to be there. According to Sheri, Jenny should have notified them a earlier than the day of. Later Dyann explained to me that it is okay in the sense that Jenny seemed not to have any real interest because she never brought her own camera to shoot. I realized that they had someone of a point. Someone with passion to learn brings their gear. Dyann also explained that Jenny wasn’t really learning anything because she needed to use her own camera to learn how to use it since I have a canon and she has a nikon. Both cameras have different ways of operating and in reality, she would have needed to use her own camera to shoot.

Aside from this setback, I continued from where we left off. I then found it very difficult to obtain the larger furniture from the back since I had no one to help me put the heavy stuff on the dollies. I was advised day one not to lift anything heavy. So I didn’t, but was then was struck with another setback. The shipping people are constantly busy to help me, asking them for help was useless. At the end of the day I only had three out of five items shot. Two of them I was told not to do because according to them it was too ambitious of me to try and photograph them without Francisco. One of the items was white (we only have white in our studio) and the other item is reflective all around. Both Sheri and Dyann understood why my day was slow and counterproductive. They agreed that from now on, Fridays I would shoot smalls rather than furniture.