Best job ever!

On Monday I did a photoshoot for Carolyn, this lovely, but slightly nutty, 40-year-old lady who somehow found me on facebook and has been commenting on my posts and scheduling and rescheduling her shoot for over a year.

She just wanted a simple one-look shoot. And kept warning me that she's the least photogenic person ever. (From her emails and messages I could tell she was just a LITTLE neurotic and just wasn't comfortable having her photo taken, even before I even met her.)

Every couple weeks or for over a year I'd get messages like:

"Hey, Dennis! Let's get something going! Call me to schedule something. Again, I need magic because I"m old and blech looking!Look through my pix and come up with ideas. I'll pay you well. xo C" November 7, 2011

"Fabulous Dennis! Call me before that week to confirm a shoot: 917-xxx-xxxx. You'll need to do magic. I'm not exactly a looker! :-)" May 11, 2012

"Hey, good sir. What time and where next week? Would Central Park do later in the day and can I bring my dog? What about hair and make up? I'd rather do my own unless you insist otherwise. Professional make-up artists make me look plastic. Give me the deets. Again, it's just one look. Thx. I think the look I'm going for is just "really pretty 45 year old woman." Not professional or sexy, but happy and glamorous. Elegant ala my fav, Grace Kelly. I think I woud do 1 look. Thanks! C" June 6, 2012

"Darling, talented, Dennis. Can you ever, ever do a weekend? If so, that or late on a Friday afternoon would be ideal. Totally want to reschedule. Let me know. Need a killer glam shot to blow my college friends and ex-boyfriends out of the water. Meow!!! :-) Only you can do it." June 20, 2011

But she would never follow through with the shoot. So eventually I stopped taking her seriously. (Not a big deal, potential clients schedule and then flake, and then string me along all the time.)

From her fb photos I could tell that she was actually quite pretty and would photograph just fine as long as she were comfortable, and more importantly, SHOWED UP.

Well FINALLY on Monday she showed up for her scheduled shoot. It was just a one-look shoot and it was so easy. She looked great. We got everything done in less than 20 minutes. I showed her some of the pictures right on my camera before I dropped her off and she was thrilled.

It's funny how worked up people can get leading up to a shoot when it really is the easiest thing ever.

She gave my makeup artist Kelli a $100 tip (on her shoot rate of $150) and then gave me a $125 tip (on a one-look shoot rate of $575).

Kelli, by the way, is a makeup goddess.

Truly, she's the best. Puts all my clients at ease. Makes them look and feel beautiful, which then makes my job a breeze.

Sometimes I can't believe how fun and easy my job is. It really is the best job EVER. And I could probably train a gifted monkey to do it.

No time. Low pressure. Slightly crazy clients. Super high reward.

I'm really lucky.

And then on top of it all, I get instant feedback like this:



You can bet that's going up on my testimonials page!