Wednesday, February 27, 2008

"Get There A Few Minutes Early In Case We Have A 10:00"

...that's what my boss said to me Tuesday night...
and that's what I did Wednesday morning.

Except for the fact that getting up early does not mesh with my night owl bones, I like opening the studio. It's just me and the incredible camera I work with. Nikon. But I won't hold that against it just because I'm a Canon girl.

The first thing I do is go straight to my enormous capture device and free it from it's dust-free purgatory. Then plug in the battery pack, twist on the transceiver and wait for the beep that lets me know all systems are go. Today...no beep.

Turn off the transceivers, switch 'em back on. Nothing. Take everything apart, put it all back together. Silence. I start to panic. The transceivers are what send the flash signal to and from my lights so I can work. Try new batteries in the transceiver. Still...no high-pitched shrill to let me know we are functioning and ready. I'm spread out on the floor trying to figure this thing out, all the lights and numbers on this board thing (I still have to investigate as to what exactly it all means), not being able to run my QC (daily camera quality check through the computer to make sure there is no dust and the gray-balance passes), and my first sit will be here before I know it.

Luckily, my boss comes in. "Help," I sigh, exasperated. "Oh, I forgot to tell you," she says. It's not working right now so we have to plug it in. (Whatever that means.)
I spend the rest of my shift trying to maneuver around background drapes and kid's props with a cord coming out of my camera that keeps tripping me up.

Oh, and by the way, my QC passed with flying numbers. At least I know I am pro at taking an extreme close-up of a gray board. More on how that functions later...

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