Day at the Office

B-FernsBack0741, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

Inspired by, ahem, “crotch shots” taken by racing driver Tanner Foust (get your mind out of the gutter-they were actually showcasing the steering wheel of a spiffy new Ferrari!) I decided to document my “day at the office.”

In case you could not guess, the typical “office” for a photographer is anything but typical.

A peek inside my studio reveals a lot of stuff, some things you’d guess would be there and some you might not expect. I have some computer crap, including a lot of printers, scanners, and all of the technical equipment that helps bring you “Carol’s Little World,” the websites, the prints, my books, my educational materials, and the like. I have a RAID array of hard drive storage that holds my photos and images. I have slide and print storage that houses my pre-digital archive (believe me, there were thousands of shots from those years. Actually, I take that back, probably tens of thousands, if not more, shots from the film years.) I have camera storage and mountains of compact flash (both spent and unspent, although most of it is more than slightly used.) Heck, I even have a rack of old Cibachromes (you can impress your friends, or not, as the case may be, by telling them you know what those are I suppose.) I have some cabinets that hold moldy old camera gear (need an old Nikon FM? Yeah, I’ve actually got a spare.) I have taborets full of paint and supplies. I have boxes of pastels. Got some easels, some new supports for printing and painting, and tons of stuff just roaming around my studio these days. It’s been a productive spring, what can I say?

But, the office? The “office” where I actually go to take pictures, where I actually roll up my sleeves and get to work? I guess that would be the closest thing to an “office” if you could call it that, right?

Sometimes, like in this shot, I work outside and far away from home. I get to jaunt off to exotic locations and shoot scantily clad models (she’s actually “wearing” some ferns in this shot.) Places like Kona, Venice, Mexico, California, New Orleans, and even the more “exotic” parts of Texas. Heck, I’ve even shot San Antonio. Have camera, will travel, right?

But the “office,” yeah, the office is what I can make of it. Sometimes, I’m lucky if I get enough room to setup my laptop and I have to deal with crappy rental cars, cheap hotels and really bad road food. I’ve seen the ugly side of the “Waffle House” at 2 am and, let me be the first to admit, that’s not a pretty place. But, you know, I put up with it because it lets me bring you shots like this. And, this? Yes, this is what I like to do and now I post it and hope you like it too.

Sometimes, I get to do studio work and work from home, where I get to put my “real” office to good use but other times? Other times, I’m at White Sands National Monument, standing on a giant sand dune or climbing up a volcano in Hawaii, navigating the public transport of Europe or flying in any contraption that will hold me high enough to get a good shot. Sure, I love shooting in my home studio, some say it’s actually where I work best but, truth be told, I’d go to the ends of the earth to produce the images that I want to produce if, you know, if that’s what it took. Waffle House be damned, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the shot. I think that’s what all photographers do and, frankly, I don’t feel any different in that regard. Heck, maybe I’m even a bit lucky, since I have gotten to do some of the stuff I’ve done over the years but, you know, there’s still more, there’s always more, and tons more that I want to do but there are only so many studio hours in the day, right?

Ok, so maybe I don’t sit in a cubicle all day but, really, are you going to hold that against me?

This is my “day at the office” what is yours like? Want to share? Hey, even if it’s somewhat “normal” that might be a refreshing change of pace for a weary photographer like me.

Until next time…