Delivering images you hate.

Q: HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SHOOT WHERE YOU DIDN’T FEEL SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS, BUT YOU STILL HAD TO DELIVER THEM TO THE CLIENT? REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, MAYBE YOU ONLY GOT ONE SHOT YOU WERE HAPPY WITH, BUT THE CLIENT WAS EXPECTING A DOZEN? HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH THAT, AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM IT? WHAT WAS THE TAKEAWAY?

A: We can’t hit it out of the park every time we step up to the base. That’s just the truth. We want to. We strive to. You’ll get some asshole like me yelling at you for not hitting it out of the park on every job! I don’t want your excuses! Make something awesome!

But, yeah, we aren’t superheroes. We aren’t able to create masterpieces on demand. Sometimes it’s us. Sometimes it’s our subject. Some subjects bring so much to the shoot with regard to personality and style that you can shoot some pretty great work with your eyes closed. Some subjects show up with one dirty t-shirt and a hatred for having their photo made. You only have so much time in your life to pull them out of their shell. You told them to bring tons of outfits. You’ve cracked every joke you know and then looked up some more.

I’ve had jobs I haven’t been too pleased with. Remember, too, that you are most likely your own worst critic. You may have let yourself down but the client is ecstatic with what you have done. I’ve delivered a lot of jobs like that. I think I could have done this better, I could have done that better. I’ll wish that I pushed harder to get a certain location. My light was all wrong, etc. You cringe to deliver the job, and then boom! They love them! They aren’t as hard of a critic as you are.

Guess what? You’re actually a professional at this point. You can deliver a level of quality on your worst day that still makes the client happy. You might not be happy but they are. Status quo to you is “professional photography” to them.

Then there are those times you get a job done and you just aren’t happy. The pictures suck. Something was wrong. Your head was in the wrong space that day. The locations sucked; the light sucked; everything just plain ol’ sucked that day and you can’t, in good conscience, deliver those photos. I have, on a handful of occasions, called the client and said, “I’m going through these photos and I’m not happy with them. I know I can do better than this. Are you available for a few hours? I want to add some more images to this set for you. No charge.”

Then I had better knock it out of the freaking park.

You can’t do this for an event. You shouldn’t ever do this for an editorial client. Can’t do this for a big job that has crew because you have to hire all that crew again—on your own dime. When that sort of pressure is on, I tend to do whatever it takes to make damn sure I’ll be pleased to deliver the images. You can’t go back.

Some jobs you can. Some jobs you will. Some jobs you will release into the wild and move on to the next one. We all have to learn. We all have to grow. We all have to have an off day. It’s when those off days are stringing together, one after another, that you really have to pull your ass out of a nosedive and straighten up and fly right. A bad day now and then—we all have them. Bad days leading to bad months? You need a kick in the ass and/or a break. Step back for a second, catch your breath, and go at it again.