Striking A Pose

Yesterday, I made a day trip to my company's offices in San Diego.  I flew down in the early morning before returning yesterday evening.

The purpose of the trip was TO GET MY PHOTOS TAKEN!  To clarify,  my team's Vice-President has asked me (along with several other members of our team) to participate in a marketing campaign to promote and showcase our team.

I landed in San Diego at around 9 AM and arrived at the office around 10 AM.  I said hi to a few folks, did a little work, got some make up on (I'm NOT KIDDING) and went through my first photo shoot at 11 AM or so.  I didn't really know what to expect but it was actually quite fun.  I was a little tired / jet lagged but somehow managed to keep a smile throughout.  

The entire team did a group photo shoot at around 12 PM.  Afterward, we all grabbed some lunch before getting back to the office.  I did a little bit of work before going through my last photo shoot around 2:30 PM.   I hung around the office for a while before departing for the airport at 4:15 PM.  I got on my flight at 6:45 PM and arrived back home around 8:15 PM.

It was great to see the professional photographer work.  I like doing some photography but have never done this portrait type work.  I can see it's a lot of work involving a lot of technical (camera, lighting) and personal skills (keeping the subject / model involved).

From my perspective, I felt extremely comfortable IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA as the subject.   If you're doing candid photos, it's easier to relax.  You don't feel pressure to look a certain way.  In a professional environment, I see why it can be tough to look and act a certain way.

I'll give the photographer credit for guiding me along and I just acted as natural as I could.  In fact, the photographer and his assistant told me that I was the easier guy to work with.  They thought I was just a natural in front on a camera.   I thought they may have been exaggerating a bit but one of the salesperson from the San Diego office repeated that statement to me again today.

It was a fun experience even though flying a plane twice in a day isn't ideal.  I even joked to the photographer that I might have to look into being a model as a back up career.  :)