Why you should hire a professional photographer more often.

A few of us 'professionals' were gathered together recently for a cool drink (mine was ice tea), and a few stories. Because of digital cameras, most of us have seen some pretty significant impacts on our business that often become topics of conversation. But the sun was out, the temperature fairly moderate for Texas, and a cool breeze was making everything pleasant. So conversations became stories, and before too long, it was one upsmanship over who could relate the funniest.

One of my personal favorite stories really best illustrates why you should hire a professional photographer. Besides all the good reasons of experience and talent, equipment and resources, this story proves that using a pro is really good for your cash register. The story begins with a retail client who decided we should shoot at one of their mall locations.

Normally, we would shoot in the store, but this time, we had a lot of furniture, and we wanted to set up a white backdrop, so we moved out into the mall. We positioned ourselves deliberately out of peoples walking areas, which happened to be alongside a solid wall and stairs that went to the next level. This was just 10-15 feet from the store entrance.

Right off the bat, we began attracting crowds. Not just a few passersby, but 30, and 40, and 50 people. Lights were set up all over, cameras on tripods, crews moving furniture in and out, flashes going off... It was a show, though it was a toss up who was most entertained.

The more flashes that went off, the more the crowd grew. By the time the mall opened, we had an audience of nearly 80 people. Security was upset, and were threatening to shut us down. We just kept working.

My clients store manager was delighted. He had more foot traffic in the store that morning then he usually had in a week. And he was actually selling stuff.

Meanwhile, back out in the mall, the circus, uh, shoot continued. By lunch, people were lining the upstairs railings, the steps, and wherever else they could find to watch. Jessica ordered pizza for us for lunch. Members of our audience disappeared and then reappeared with lunches from the food court. Apparently they were going to make a day out of it.

Security by this point had lost it's patience with us and was demanding we pack up and move out. The stores down at the other end of the mall were complaining that we were drawing all the foot traffic. And the stores at our end were delighted, because we were keeping crowds at their end.

By this time, one gentleman in the crowd had started heckling, and when lunch showed up and we were making no effort to share with the crowd, his heckling increased. Security was pushing us to move out, and the crowds were now starting to filter into our shooting area. Some were actually laying on the beds we were shooting, which meant we had to not only move them, but remake the beds.

Jessica was panicking. Security was angry. The crowds were becoming uncontrollable. The pizza was getting cold. But the crew and I kept working, kept assembling furniture, flashes kept going off. Oh, and the store manager was very happy.

Were it anyone else but a professional, the image would never have been taken.

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