Sketched out

Half-way through my first full year of freelancing I was on the phone with the art director of a new magazine client discussing an upcoming assignment (I no longer remember which one it was) when they suddenly asked me a simple question: "would you like me to send you sketches of what I want the pictures to look like?" All I could reply was, "uhhh?...", to which they said, helpfully, "you know, like storyboards or drawings." A few seconds later I had calmed myself enough to politely decline.

The shock of his request has of course completely worn off now, so far removed from the idealism of younger days and journalism school, but the experience proved instructive ever since, even though I've still never accepted such an offer. Unlike other photographers whose ultimate passion is documentary project work (that sacred beast), I acknowledged right away two important things about my future in magazines: first, I needed to learn the portrait skills that I would need in order to accept the portrait assignments that make up the vast majority of the editorial market, and secondly, that despite my personal convictions to do a very specific type of work I must put myself in a position to accept any jobs I could get because of an immediate need to be able to support myself.

Those caveats, when met early on with the idea that someone would dare (gasp!) suggest that my journalism might ever be art-directed (double-gasp!), made quick work of illuminating my understanding of the freelance assignment world. In short, I swiftly moved to the conclusion that I was not an "artist" or a "photojournalist" (both of those words don't mean anything anyway), but was rather a "photographer" whose job is to create imagery according to the standards and needs of my clients. Therefore, learning the broad outline of what each magazine might want or need for an assignment was not only permissible to my fragile ego, it was extremely important if I wanted to stay in business.

Fast-forward to the new year and there I am this weekend sitting in the very charming Houston home of Mr. Christer Fuglesang, otherwise known by me as The Swedish Astronaut, who was very nice to meet and photograph along with his wife and son. The memory of that art director and the sketches came to me as I sat in his living room trying to stay engaged in the writer's interview and figure out how else I could possibly photograph him while he answered questions. I was having problems staying focused because I kept being constantly reminded that I don't understand any Swedish at all (my client was Swedish, and thus so was the dialogue). Somewhere in the middle of the long conversation, as I sat politely drinking the coffee they kindly gave to us (thank god), I realized that I really had no clue what kind of photographs my client expected from me out of this assignment. The job and trip had pretty much been last minute, arranged from half-way across the world, and my instructions had been vague to say the least.

At this point I start to feel a bit panicked. Christer is a giant rock star in Sweden and his leap into history as the first Swede in space has been front page news for a month there. My assignment to photograph him at home was an exclusive that my client set up, as he had apparently granted very few other opportunities. So at the very least I had a vague sense that the stakes were potentially high for my client and agency. Also, and the only way that I could be confused as to what kind of photography that one of my clients could want from me on a given assignment, my portfolio contains images shot for a lot of different sorts of clients in a variety of slightly different styles. Though I am confident that the client was had seen my work and was excited for me to deliver my personal vision of this situation, I really didn't know what types of my images they wanted me to try and bring out with Christer. For the first time in my career a stupid sketch was beginning to sound pretty damn good.

I only had one solution and its the same solution that I've realized and taken advantage on almost every job I've ever shot. Be yourself, make your pictures, cover your bases, and do your best. Even with sketches, maps, or whatever else, in the end there is only the photographer left to make the right or wrong decisions and determine the fate of the visual side of the story. Though Christer was a very nice guy and extremely cooperative, his house was boring and 110% free of anything at all relating to space. I didn't expect him to open his closet and pull out a space suit or anything, but it would have been pretty rad, right?! And so I kept working and shooting, and kept asking for more from Christer and his wife. We even went for a walk together in their neighborhood. Overall I think I did a pretty competent job profiling a normal guy's home life who has lived an extraordinary life. I haven't heard back but I hope the client and my agency are happy with the images. Next time they should just book an extra ticket on the space shuttle for me and I'll deliver the goods, baby!

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