TOURISTS!!?

I knew how busy this location could be at anyone time, being a very popular tourist location. This is why I selected this time of day, but I didn’t realize even at this early time how busy it would be. Part of completing proper planning/recce is making sure there are no special events going on downtown during your shoot or confirming how busy the location is going to be during that time of day.

Well Murphy’s law of course there was an event going on. There was a Commemoration going on for a fallen Police Officer, which they were having on Parliament Hill. This was just up the street from where I was shooting. There was a continuous stream of Police Officers going up to the Hill for the Commemoration. They were all dressed to the nines in their parade outfits. If I didn’t have a deadline, I would have packed up and left and came back at another time.

The Police Officers just finished strolling by, when the tourists started to sombre through. It seemed the local tourists were very understanding and respectful, as they walked around or didn’t interfere. Than you had the other percentage the out of towners, that did everything in there power to try your patience. Don’t get me wrong I was very considerate and understanding towards them, but there is a limit.

I had brought my dog Shadow with us as part of the shoot, well talk about awesome. You couldn’t ask for a better dog. After we finished taking pictures of him, he curled up at my feet and was very relaxed. Unfortunately, there were tourists reaching down to pet him, of course personnel space, tri-pod, expensive camera. They didn’t even ask, just surprise reached down and started to pat the dog!!! Like wow, this was a very big learning experience, where it seems there are no boundaries for some people. LOL.

I had my son as a Model and he was also great, doing everything he was asked to do. He was looking quite dapper in his blue suit and tie. Out of the blue elderly women started to stand beside him and get their picture taken with him. He looked at me confused, a bit scared, he just shrugged and smiled. Well after several minutes and umpteenth groups of elderly women. As much as trying to say something to them, they wouldn’t have understood anyway. LOL. The clock was ticking! I could not have imagined how busy this location was at this early in the morning.

In the future, I will make sure to do a physical Reece to the location to confirm it is a viable location and there are no issues that stand out with the site. I will also make sure to sit down at the table and jot down key points There is so much that is right at your finger tips with your computer, such what the weather is going to be, are there any special events going on or opening google maps and looking at the satellite imagery to look at you site.

As you can see planning plays a key roll when going out for a shoot to a new location. Being as green as I was, it sure opened my eyes what needs to be completed prior to going to a location to shoot. Sometimes you can’t do a recce, but if you can make sure you do one, if possible. It will save you time at location and during the post processing to correct lighting issues.