I spent all day yesterday trapped in a crowded photo studio shooting yet more oh-so-exciting product, this time a catalog spread for Crate and Barrel. My teacher claims he can shoot six or so setups in a day (in fact he is currently shooting the Crate and Barrel catalog), so he had us do a six shot spread in one day. Thing is, he has stylists and assistants and lunch delivery. I have... me. After three hours, I still didn't have my first shot (I quickly learned to be less picky). After 6 hours, I was calling Michael begging him to come play photo assistant (he couldn't). After 10, my feet had fallen asleep and my back was hurting (it still is). At 13, I was using the vodka pictured in the photo above to bribe the guys who run the photo stages at school to keep it open just 10 more minutes (they did). I started setting up at nine in the morning and finished breaking down (both the set and the nervous variety) at quarter after ten (at night). A good portion of that time was spent... ironing tablecloths.

Anyway, I learned I can shoot a lot faster than I thought I could (I did 8 setups in all, 6 plus a couple variations). I also shot this with HMI, which is a daylight balanced continuous light source they use in movies a lot. It was pretty spiffy.

Wish me luck when I attempt to return $400 worth of product to Crate and Barrel tomorrow.

I'll spare you the other shots. They're really (yawn) cataloguey.