The Last Minute Fifteen

I had made a decision not to accept any paid shoots that were last minute. They can get so messy and stressful. Usually a last minute shoot means that there is a lot more last minute decisions that were made by the client. Sometimes it works out, but sometimes it doesn't.

I only accepted this because my friend asked me to. His friend was a DJ and the photographer he suggested couldn’t make get a firm price with the client and they never actually booked him.

I having a lot less experience, accepted the job for the price they could afford. Either way, I was determined to make some great images.

With 1 flash, I was confident I could shoot the whole event. I was mostly correct. Everything was great. I took photos of everything they wanted and even more. I knew what to shoot and how to shoot it.

The only problem was when the night hit and they had the surprise dance and the traditional speech from the parents. The only light they had was from he DJ color strobes so everything was really dark.  People were complaining that they could barely see.

With 1 flash, I tried to set it up opposite of the DJ but it was still not enough. There was just so much darkness. My flash was pushed to its limit to the point it overheated and didn’t want to shoot anymore.

I missed some shots, but I got enough great moments that the clients were extremely happy. So much so that I got a really good tip.