5 assistants, 3 clients, 2 models, and a partridge in a pear tree

After a week of being away from the Studio helping my sister move to Chicago for graduate school, I was welcomed back with the most responsibility I had yet at my internship. I was in charge of the talent. This meant I had to pick them up at the Highland Inn and transport them to the shoot and then drive them to the airport at the end of the day. The first day of shooting was on August 28 and I arrived to pick up the models at 12:45 pm and then take them down the street 1 mile to a restaurant before 1 pm. As one could imagine I was nervous because I didn't want to look incompetent in front of these women who I helped pick out of a pool of models. The 2 models were very nice and talkative even though I could tell they had a rough night. One was from Brazil and other from LA, both being roughly my age. When I arrived at the shoot the crew was eating and had been working since 7:30 in the morning. They had shot a family barbecuing and apparently the fire, kids, and animals did not behave so most everyone was worn out. Of the 5 assistants there I didn't know 2 of them. Ryan and Keith were there, of course, along with John Herre who I hadn't seen since the NATICK shoot. The last two were Jason Fobart (or J-Fo) who was the digital assistant with a massive rig that included two 22 inch screens attached to a dolly custom made running off of a G5 tower, and Morgan (I never got a last name). Both of these guys I have heard Scott, Ryan, and Keith mention of and apparently all of these guys were the main people who get hired in ATL and it didn't hurt they were some of the nicest guys I have met while interning.
The shoot was great. Although the restaraunt was small there were a ton of people there. There were 2 stylists, 5 assistants (plus me), 2 client reps plus 1 of the client's client rep, studio producer, and 2 models. This was the least number of people. It reminded me of the famous picture that showed Richard Avedon's production crew.
The one thing that stood out to me about this shoot is how everyone had a job to do while the photographer did what he needed to do. Scott told me that sometimes the photographer has "tunnel vision". He/She wants a certain shot and sees it a certain way and when it doesn't work they get frustrated and needs people to help him pull back and see a way to solve the problem or start all over again.
I didn't really do much other than stand around and if I saw something that needed to be done I did it. I did everything from picking up trash and taking it out to moving things that will be in the shot and helping move lights. I tried not to be in the way of the assistants because I didn't want to step on any toes. Kyle, an assistant told me to always stay near the photographer so if they need something you are there to do it. So that is what I did. I also helped out Callie with ice and drinks. I just did anything I thought would help. After leaving taking the models to the airport I went back to the shoot to help and then left at 7:15 pm. Ready for the next day.
I arrived at the site of the next shoot the next day at 9:45 am after stopping to pick up some bananas on the way there. Again the site was very close to the Studio, about 1.5 miles. It was a huge 3 story house in the middle of Five Points on Euclid Ave. When I got there they had been shooting the first shot of 2 little girls playing musical instruments for 45 minutes. After watching the kids go from cute to rambuncious to cute and then obnoxious we set-up another shot for the kids to be making cookies. Scott mainly used the Keno and the Parabeam with this shoot more then the first day. The Keno and Parabeam are like a cross between softboxes and continuous lights with grid spots on them. He used these lights along this strobes to get a natural lighting situation, like he always does. Those shots went without a hitch and soon it was time for me to pick up another model. So I drove to the Highland Inn and picked her up at 12:15 pm and drove her to the house. She was immediately placed into makeup while the rest of the crew and I ate lunch. It was then time for the family shots. Both of the family shots were going great until it started to rain when we were shooting at the garage. We had some power problems with the computer and lights plugged into the same circuit and had to remedy that problem. Then it started to sprinkle so we moved everything into the garage. It then began to pour so we moved some of the shots to the front porch only using the sun, which was peaking through the clouds and one white reflector and a silver reflector. This was improvised because the other shot was not possible with the rain. Scott was able to pull away from the other shot to focus on another while the first shot was not possible. He managed to work through his tunnel vision. The shoot ended with me driving the model to the airport at 7:30 pm.