Zany Zeus

A while ago a photographer friend and I were hiking the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver BC jabbering the usual shop talk.  Discussing where we found our business' easy or difficult and stuff like that. Mostly it consisted of "I wish I had a..." It became apparent that what I found easy to accomplish she didn't and what she found easy I didn't. The idea hatched that we should try and put shoots together collaboratively. I have a place to shoot, lighting etc. while she has a good network of friends and acquaintances but no place to photograph. We did our first shoot today and I am very pleased with how it went. Marlene showed up this morning with a friends daughter who is studying acting in school. She brought some props, an extensive shoot brief with story boards and extra ideas. All I did was set up some lights. What needed to be done got done, and except when something need to be held, we took turns popping the strobes. Everything slowed down for me. I took a bit of extra time focusing and thinking about the composition while Marlene was shooting so I doubt I got any fewer shots than I normally would have. 

Here's an example from our first co-shoot.

It will be interesting to see how we differ in sales volume. The images are obviously similar but we will distribute them independently of each other. Keywording and processing styles will be different. I think we both stand to learn a great deal from this.