A Balancing Act

A balancing act for a popular photographer. All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR

Sunday 25th July 2021 – Torbay triathlon

One of the challenges of being a photographer during the pandemic was juggling demand while coping with constant changes to events, including cancellations.

This weekend was a case in point as I had to wait for confirmation from Torbay Triathlon organisers, Sportiva Events, that they had received their permit from the British Triathlon Federation. I had also agreed to do my best to take a handful of shots from a pre-season football friendly between Buckland Athletic WFC and Plymouth Argyle WFC in Newton Abbot. The kick off was scheduled for 2pm which would – theoretically – have given me time to make it over from Goodrington where the triathlon was being held. Oh, and I had also agreed to cover a private christening in Exeter if I could get there.

Trying to keep everyone happy is not an easy job when you’re a popular photographer because everybody wants you. The triathlon had been booked first so that was my priority. I then looked at the timings of the tri to estimate when the last runner would come through the tape. This would give me an idea of when I would be needed for the presentation shots and an approximate finishing time. I worked out I could make the football for the last 20 minutes if everything went to plan.

The christening was at 12pm at Exeter Cathedral. Going by last year’s triathlon schedule, there had been an hour and a half between the kids and the adults events. I said to the father, ‘If you can reserve me a space by the cathedral, I’ll pull straight into that and get to your christening in the gap.’

Trying to keep everyone happy is not an easy job when you’re a popular photographer because everybody wants you.

But things were about to get tricky. In the previous year’s tri, they had put on the kids’ event in the afternoon following the main triathlon in the morning. This year, they reversed the order because of the heat wave. They must have thought that kids running at 2pm in the height of the heat wouldn’t have been good for them. So, the kids event would now happen first and there would only be an hour’s lunch break. With the main event getting priority coverage, I would also now be up against the clock to make the football before full-time!

I contacted the father and suggested a Plan B. “If you can keep everybody at your party until 4.30pm, I can then come and do some nice pretty photos of you in groups,” I said.

Popular photographer saved by the ping!

Fate would end up lending a hand. Unbeknown to me, several Buckland Athletic football players had received the dreaded coronavirus ‘ping’ from the track and trace app. This meant they had to cancel the game.

As it happened, the last triathlon runner didn’t come in until 4pm so, by the time I had done the presentations and everything, there was no way I could have made the football anyway!

I could still get to the christening party by 5pm, so I left a message saying I could leave at any time, but I didn’t hear back. I guess the kids had had a long day, so the party had probably finished. But morally, I had tried.

As a popular photographer, you’ve got to be able to control a fluid situation. You have to keep everyone in touch and think on your feet. Be prepared for all eventualities.

Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th July 2021 – Filing, enquiries & a wedding meeting

As a busy pro, filing photographs will inevitably take longer as you will be multi-tasking a lot of the time: answering client queries, doing other shoots, arranging meetings, etc. One person contacted me regarding the triathlon as I was uploading images to the organiser’s Facebook page for competitors to save, share and comment on – part of my brief for this client. The conversation went along the lines of, “I know I’m probably being too keen but I’m dying to see the pictures of me and my daughter I asked you to take.”

I was able to say, “As it happens, Facebook has blocked me from uploading any more because it thinks I’m spamming the site with all of these pictures. But now I’ve got contact details for you, I can just send them across.”

While I’m filing the triathlon, I’m also talking to a bride’s mother about her wedding plans. She wanted to meet up and I told her it would make sense for us to meet at the hotel they would be holding the wedding at. It had just clicked that I hadn’t seen the hotel for four or five years so there was bound to be something different about it. There was – they had built a big extension.

So, I met up with her on the Wednesday to suss the venue and locality out. It turns out that they now have geese there and the bride said, “I’d love some pictures with the geese.” So, if you can go and suss the venue out with them, suss it out. You can also build up a rapport with the couple and think about what would make good bride and groom pictures and fire some ideas across their bows.

You might be going out of your way for a meeting but it can be useful for planning your pictures out properly. You can then be as unobtrusive as possible on the day – and save time setting up. You can see how dark the rooms are and work out what equipment you will need to bring (extra lighting, etc.). Ideas will often come into your mind over the following days, from your subsconscious.

The rest of the week was about family time. We had a family birthday and sleepover to organise although I did get up early to do some Photoshop editing on 10-15 wedding pictures. On that subject, it can take a week or so to complete a set of photographs but as a percentage of that time is spent working on behalf of others, I always make sure the client’s invoice reflects that (so they won’t be billed for seven days of editing!)

It helps that I don’t need to pay much for advertising because if you give a good service and don’t charge the Earth, you get family members and friends coming back to you for their weddings.

Have a burning photography question you would like Al to write about in his next blog post? Email info@miraclepr.com with your request.