As a photo producer, you can wind up putting resources together that may seem a bit hard to line up under a deadline. Where I was raised, people referred to these near impossible tasks as similar to herding cats. Not the easiest thing to do.

I’ve been trying to think back on some of my experiences as a producer that I could share now that I am writing a blog. Digging through my memories of some of the productions I’ve been involved in, I realized a lot of times as a producer your asked to do things you don’t really know how to do. Though in some ways that is really what a producer does…figure out a way to get something done when there isn’t a clear picture of how to accomplish that. A roll your sleeves up and tackle things one by one, whether that means phone calls to experts until you are fully aware of what it takes to provide enough electricity for a travelling kitchen, or finding out what cultural distinctions a certain area of the world has in relation to another area.

I have a love/hate relationship with my cell phone.

Sometimes you just land a sweet gig. One of those projects that everything just falls into place, and even as things are shaking out the process is fun as well. About a year ago, I got to enjoy one of those…the creative was skyline shots in the evening. We needed to be able to show the immenseness of the city, so it had to be an angle where the city stretched out into the horizon. After looking at places like Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, and Atlanta, we decided to head down the coast to Los Angeles. We felt that LA had a great size to it, and that on the outskirts you would have a few opportunities to get an overlook back into the city.

Things get pretty busy at the end of the year…
A lot of places are closing up books, spending budgets before the year's end...
People often have extra travel and going ons, more hustle and bustle...

Sometimes being a producer is no more than knowing how to file the correct paperwork. Take for example getting a photographer permission to go to some far off location…it all starts off with getting your paperwork in order.

Sometimes a shoot comes along that carries with it a lot of risk. Not that every shoot doesn’t have an element of unknown, it’s just that you can usually narrow in on it. Sort of level it out by the time you are ready to shoot (of course, that is, bearing in mind you are given enough time to prepare, which is probably another story altogether). But there are certain shoots that just have elements that all the preparation in the world isn’t going to reduce the risk.

I had one of those this weekend.

When I was asked to contribute some insight from a photo producer’s perspective onto the scene of what we do here at OnRequest Images, I wondered what should I say? At first thought, I was like is there anything interesting to talk about? I rummaged through my mind for clues… What about that time I had to call up accounting at midnight, and ask them to up the limit on my Amex card. I needed to purchase a ticket for a photographer to go to Bulgaria then Turkey then Cairo and finally back to the UAE. .. Accounting…can this wait til 8am? Me…No, the Bulgarian Embassy in Dubai closes in two hours!