Every day is an adventure…

…waiting to be explored. And every gig is a learning experience – fortunately I don’t have to make a real living at it these days.

What were yesterday’s lessons?

On my side:
1. Triple check the damned camera. My JVC GY-DV300 is a sweetie, but for some reason she’s been putting forth an error notice – a nasty one. So I did a reset to factory default and she went back to being the willing partner I need on shoots. Until I went on the shoot yesterday, when nasty error popped up again and I had to resort to the HV20.
2. The good lesson – always have a backup plan. Thank you HV20.
3. Depth of field is a bitch. Trying to throw a background out of focus in a small room doesn’t work…especially when the client wants a wider shot.
4. Gonna hafta windsock the lav. It is SUPER sensitive when lying against talent’s shirt or even skin or hair.

On the clients’ side:
1. Communicate what file format you need final video in…learning you want flv or smf after the shoot when I don’t have the conversion software makes me feel incompetent. I really like to please, but was unable to comply.
2. You were fun to work with…easy going and willing to listen (ideal client profile) – and you paid promptly.
3. Uh…I love you, but I kinda expected to shoot right away (okay, I will admit it was nice to have that extra 30 minutes or more to experiment with my setup…but the day did kinda drag on).

And finally – as usual – I learned a lot from my clients as I did the shoot. My family law (divorce) lawyer client taught me that there are caring attorneys with high moral standards. Today’s clients taught me about some new sales tactics for online selling. I also learned that folks who dream the impossible dream are damn hard workers, stretching their lives thin and focusing on the goal.

Wonder what the next gig will bring.