The Best Job To Do Is The Best Job You Can Do

If that title sounds like a meme from a social media site, forgive me. At least there are no kitten pictures*. But it's true, and for the person who wants to be paid for their photography it needs to be a prime thought before they start. This applies if they hope for cash or just judge's praise. I wish I could say that I've always adhered to the maxim, but I haven't - and when that happens, nothing else works. The business photographer is frequently in the same position as a film actor - they are judged by their last performance. This is awkward when fate or fortune step in and deal a bad job or a bad result. Equipment breakdown or lack of knowledge can make it all stop - I had one of these a week ago. Fortunately it was a small glitch, but I am going to be extra vigilant that it doesn't happen again - or I would get a reputation as an unreliable worker. How to prevent this sort of thing? a. Get as much real knowledge about your equipment as you can. The shop assistants can help a little, though you need to remember that their time may be needed for sales and business accountancy tasks. If you need specific guidance, ask specific questions. The instruction books that you get with equipment rarely lie ( apart from the spec page... ) but they may be written so that what they tell you is hard to grasp. They may tell you things by omitting to tell you different. A case in point is the video section in my main camera's instruction booklet doesn't tell me that the camera will automatically record video sequentially from card 1 to card 2 when the first one fills up. That's because it doesn't. It does do this useful thing when you are shooting stills, and the fact that it had done so before led me to think the video would be the same. I had a bad moment and lost footage with this during a shoot, before I manually switched recording to the second slot. Lesson learned. b. Know the capacity of your memory cards and of your batteries. Once you have some experience of the recording times and capacities, do not tempt fate by trying to get that extra five minutes or 100 files. Change batteries and cards well before time - they are both items that are cheap enough to keep spares. Again, don't ask me how I found this out, but I did... c. Keep the equipment serviced and clean. Reliability is built into a lot of things, but even a cast-iron stove can have the firebox burn out if you don't mind it and keep it clean. Camera Electronic has a good service department and money spent there for maintenance is money you are investing in your own reputation. d, Not all photography will be for happy or reasonable people. Goodness, if you detect a potential clash of wills...or won'ts...by all means sheer off from a job and recommend someone else who might do it better. You may just have to keep your temper and take orders, but you don't need to take bad ones. If someone wants you to do something that is going to make a poor job of it be patient, explain why it is wrong, and protect your reputation for the future. The best job you can do can be different in varying circumstances, but you should always be able to show that you've done it to the best of your ability. * And I'm not trying to pretend Voltaire said it...