[Leica] Reality check redux.

[mcyclwritr at comcast.net (mcyclwritr@comcast.net)]

The upshot of the proposed shoot was, "yes," and with no further discussion 
of the $250 fee. So, Saturday afternoon I shot the senior with her horse, 
Romeo. Outdoors with the odd snowflake. 24 degrees. And a quartering breeze 
from the northwest. Brrr. 

All went well. Got a few excellent images among a number of acceptable ones, 
despite the horse being a brat--they do that in cold weather--and shooting 
against a cluttered background. The stable is in town (weird zoning in the 
Denver area), with all the wires, signs, etc., that make up the scenery in 
an older, urban neighborhood. When Romeo cooperated, I used a couple 
60'-high spruce trees as a backdrop to avoid bits of aerial infrastructure. 
If the shot had not called for a horse-faced horse and a human to both be in 
focus, I would have shot the 85mm f/1.2 wide open or at f/2.0 and just 
knocked the entire background mess into bokehland.  

Two items of interest. First, a 1-gig SanDisk Ultra II CF card would accept 
only three RAW+large JPEG images (actually six images) before balking and 
causing the 5D to report "CF FULL."  Had extra cards on hand. Good thinking, 
that. After downloading all three/six images on the "Full" card, I 
reformatted it and the problem was solved. 

Second (and not a photographic item of interest), The Goddess of 
near-chump-change windfalls, if you can accept $250 as a windfall, prompted 
my 15-year-old water heater to start puking its guts out last night. That's 
$814-and-change to take a hot shower later today. 

Sometimes, a man's just gotta' grin and marvel at the synchronicity of it 
all. 

-Chris Lawson

  
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The backstory: 

I got a call from an almost-friend asking if I could shoot her
daughter's senior portrait. And muy pronto, to boot. "I'd be happy
to," I said.
 
Not knowing details on exact location, number of wardrobe changes,
etc., I quoted $250, which would include 4x6 proofs but not batches
of wallet-size photos or custom enlargements. Easily a half day,
counting schleppage.