• the traveling dream…or not

    July 26, 2009

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    wow, you get to travel 200+ days a year and get paid for it! This is the most common reaction when chatting with someone about my business. It’s true, we do get to travel to a ton of killer locations all over the world and after 10 years and over 2 million miles on delta i still enjoy the locations, but it isn’t always as glamorous as it seems.

    Take this trip for instance, i am in Cincinnatti shooting 150 portraits of the nations best junior golfers for the PGA of America. Seems easy enough on paper…that is until the thunderstorms hit west palm last night as we were on the tarmac. ok, so we are delayed a couple hours but not to worry, amazingly enough i am actually on a direct flight. I’m prepared with book in hand and a rented movie on my iphone so i am not concerned. When i wake up, the hot coffee my seatmate spilled has just reached skin…this coffee is almost Mcdonalds hot! She apologizes and we get the spill contained just as the pilot announces our detour around what looks to me like a wise decision. The thunderhead is approximately the size of iowa and looks like a scene straight out of the movie Twister. So, with this in flight delay we land 3 hours late. Now to the baggage claim…ahhh, yes the odds are against me on this one. We flew on a overbooked commuter so odds are at least one of my four 70 lb pelican cases made a circuitous trip to atlanta on it’s way to the Queen City.

    I wait until it’s just me and the baggage guy eying my incomplete stack of gear. I begin the walk of shame bagless to the baggage room hoping that there is one more late flight in with one last pelican case and a stand bag. 30 min later with the dreaded lost bag report in hand i wander near the number 1 bag area and there before my eyes is one pelican case and one stand case sitting all alone! Are you kidding me? it came in the oversize bag area…i did not see that coming. i consider going back into the delta room and have a chat but, it’s now after 9pm and i still have to set up for a 7am first shot. So off i head to the rental car shuttle pick-up. This is always fun alone, oh did i mention that i am sans assistants on this one? Just me, 5 bags and 150 high schoolers over two days.  The rental car shuttle bus comes and inevitably i have a crowd behind me muttering as i fill the entire luggage space up with my gear. My reserved SUV has interestingly morphed into a toyota matrix, not so SUV.

    After a 45 min drive to the location i walk into a dining room with a note that says i can set up my gear in the corner between the breakfast buffet and the desert table, interesting to say the least. I set up as far out of the way as i can and hope for the best when morning comes, oh, its already here. It’s midnight and i still have to check in my hotel which is named… wait for it…THE GREAT WOLF LODGE.  Yes indeed, a giant faux log cabin hotel with a huge indoor waterpark.  If there is one thing i do love it is a theme hotel, things are looking up!

    6am comes early and i head to the breakfast buffet, i mean my shooting space. The kids start pouring in at 7 and now at 10:30 i am 41 portraits into the day. All things considered its been a smooth trip so far and lets face it, any day you get work where you can reach over and grab breakfast without standing up is a good day. more coffee please…

    my eat in studio...note the chef restocking for the lunch rush

    my eat in studio...note the chef restocking for the lunch rush

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