It’s been a few weeks in-between blog posts. Having a 9-5 day job really slows down the process of writing about the adventures on my pursuit of photography. I recently had a job near ANZ stadium at “Iceworks” the brief was to take “team shots” of two league legends and the guests.
As always I turn up before schedule so I can suss out my area I’m dealing with and find out the timings I have to set up, move things around, and take a few test shots. I was told I would have 30mins or so to set up my gear but unfortunately I was only given 10minutes. Running around like a mad man moving the chairs and tables with half empty drinks and moving my gear into the room to prepare for the shoot.
After about 7minutes of setting up my lights, tripod, camera and all the nitty gritty things that make my flashes fire, I was prompted they are 2 minutes away. “OH SHIT” is my first thought, I still had to take a test shot to make sure these turned out ok. On my first test shot I noticed the backdrop and terrible wrinkles in it; I tried bouncing the light off a different way to reduce the inconstancies in the sponsors logo. To top it off I didn’t have much room to work with if I got larger groups, the door way was on the left side of the image and I had to position another light on the left for some fill.
As they open the door my heart stops……….A voice I hear every night on the sports report, Wally Lewis, the King, the first statue that was placed at ANZ stadium immortalised in copper for generations to see. Following closely with his husky weathered voice…..Darren Lockyer. I stop for a moment and think “you’re kidding, what are the odds that these two legends would be in my photos”?……wait what is that? News crew coming in and asking me if they can film”…SUREEE why not I say.
This was by far one of the most interesting jobs and one I won’t forget. I was able to joke around with two of the greatest players in history and make them laugh. I started off using “on the count of three say cheese” followed by some other cheeky remarks from Lockyer. I decided to make them say things from, Wally, Locky and Cockies. It got everyone laughing and in each and every photo all the guests and legends had the biggest smiles on their faces. Job done!!!!!!
