Matthew is on the phone with me (while I’m driving to a job in eastern Washington), scanning the disk I sent to him by FedEx yesterday. "These are so great! There’s so many more than we can use. The portraits, the classroom shots, oh, this series of the student in the city, these are perfect! There is more than enough to finish the IIT viewbook. Great job!"
This client gushes almost as much as a bride does when I show her the wedding shots. A big chunk of my work for the last year has been for one design firm that specializes in college marketing materials. They’ve been sending me around the country to photograph Viewbooks (the major marketing piece for a college—if you have a kid in 11th grade, you know all about these). It is work I am perfectly adapted for—documentary, but with structure, real-life, but often composed to look that way, and interacting with subjects posessing intellect and curiosity that match my own. The assignments involve long days that require physical and mental stamina. And it pays reasonably well. What more could I ask for?
One of the Illinois Institute of Technology shots I did this last round was for the Psychology Department section of the book. This has been a difficult sector to illustrate. We created a set-up in their play-therapy observation lab, borrowing a 4 year old who happened to belong to the woman at the college responsible for hiring me. She told me the story. "Why should I hire a photographer from Seattle when we’re in one of the largest media markets in the country? Why can’t we use someone local?" she complained to the account executive at the design firm. The design firm won out, and I was hired. After the first round of photography last fall, after she has seen the work, she talked again to my AE. "Matthew, you were so right. Thank you."
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