JOEL'S MOPEDS: Mophoto Fleet

A couple weeks ago Rosanna organized a Mosquito Fleet Family Portrait. It had been a long time coming mostly because I was a very hesitant participant. My hesitation was due in part to the amount of work involved- lighting, procuring a backdrop of adequate size, organizing people, etc- but also due to some of my own insecurities. I just didn't want to be responsible for taking my friends photos and then if they sucked have only myself to blame. Like I said, insecurities.

So the day approached and Rosanna and I worked hard to gather all the necessary things; remote flashes, a giant white backdrop, an armature for hanging the backdrop, tripods, tether cable... the day before the big shoot I thought, "Hey the new Mac OS just came out, maybe that would help!"

It didn't.

It made my copy of Aperture stop working thus requiring me to spend another couple of hundred dollars regain the ability to edit photos. But I digress.

The day arrived and the so did the rain clouds. Ian and I sat in my house, playing wii, watching the weather channel and hoping for a break in the weather as my nervousness steadily grew. As people arrived the pressure to get shooting reached the tipping point so we began setting up and breaking down the equipment between rain showers, the expensive deposit I had put down on the rental equipment looming foremost on my mind.

Eventually we moved over to the school across the street where there was an awning of adequate size. We moved through everyone that showed up, getting some really great pictures, some not so great pictures and some happy accidents.

In the end despite my nervousness, people were really kind and complimentary and that means a lot to me. The members of the Mosquito Fleet can disagree with each other and have personality conflicts but when it comes down to it the positive experiences far outnumber the negative ones. Of course I know that there is room for improvement in the photos but that's life.