Well I’m about ready to head to the shower, then to bed. Yep, been up all night working on images, not to mention Glamour1.com and various other sites. Been a long (past) week. The main stickler was the aftermath of the last Virgin Islands trip where we did our first “one on one” type workshop with seven photographers, seven models, six assistants, a cook and one MUA. Wanted two MUA’s, but the original insisted herself only–make more money that way she figured.
When you’re down in the Caribbean paradise, it’s tropical. With tropical comes humidity, heat, and a mosquito or noseeum occasional bite. Cram 9-ladies in one house alone combined with the tropical environment, early mornings for make-up, long days of shooting, and you’ve created a conducive environment for at least one flare-up. That we had on the last day of shooting. Basically two people acting unprofessional by arguing in front of all the attendees and the neighbors. Had I’d been there, I would have ended it quickly.
Being that I knew both personalities involved, I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t, all I did was hear about it by about 19 people. I basically heard about five variations, but around 15 were very similar. In a nutshell, we had two people who acted foolishly and unprofessionally. In the end, one person felt I should back them up. How could I, I didn’t witness it? Well that was that and upon my return that person quit the team and took every reference to all I brought her with my photography. Though 98% of her friends “list” came from the workshops along with the majority of her publishing credits over the past years.
So much for helping someone get published, so much for helping someone make thousands of dollars, so much for letting someone stay in your home and treat them like family. That’s business I guess.
As I quoted Mark Cuban the other day, “Calamity can be a catalyst for significant change.” With that said, I look forward in working with new talent, talent that will be fresh to everyone, not the same old stuff. In the end, I know who was right and who was wrong. They both were wrong for their un-professionalism and I was right to move forward. Thanks, rg sends!
