How I Became A Professional Photographer In 1 Easy Step

*This story is as accurate as my forgetful mind can… oh a bird!

Thursday afternoon, I was finishing up at work when Tracy called.

“Hey, Katie! How about assisting a shoot for Transylvania County’s tourism department this weekend? I’ll pay you $15 an hour and, they’ll put us up in a hotel and pay for our meals.”

I’d helped Tracy on a number of shoots-bridal portraits, bar mitzvahs and such. I was a pro at bouncing light and carrying heavy bags. A paid weekend in Brevard with Tracy and free stuff and all I had to do was skip my morning class? No brainer. I was in.

I sped down to Tracy’s mom’s house in Weaverville, tossed my bag in the back of her car and we were off driving up, up through the dark mountains. We arrived at an exclusive resort with a very old and formal parlor filled with ornate wood and heavy tapestries.

“Ok, so we’re going to meet the clients in a minute. They think you’re a professional photographer so just smile and nod.”

“Tracy, I am not a professional photographer! I bounce light and carry heavy things! Why didn’t you get anyone else to help you?”

Just to put this in context, Tracy was an internationally recognized photographer and one of the most sought after wedding and lifestyle photographers in the US. I had a $100 point and shoot that I bought because, I liked the color red.

Although, I generally have a good eye and, I’d seen enough of Tracy’s photography shaming to know not to snap pics of someone with a tree sticking out of their head or a kissing couple with a hillbilly taking a leak in the background (although that could be edgy?) I was most certainly not a photographer. But, apparently the trick to Becoming A Professional Photographer in One Easy Step is to smile and nod when the Director of Tourism for TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY-LAND OF WATERFALLS!!! shakes your hand and says, “You must be Katie the professional photographer.” And, when he asks how long you’ve been working with Tracy, you bend the truth and say with gusto, “Four years and counting, sir!”

We received the itinerary for the following day including a staged cocktail party on a fancy historic boat and a romantic fireside picnic in one of the guest suites. Oh and there would be models, one of which would be Miss North Carolina.

“Ok, so you’re going to be my second shooter. It’ll be a breeze. Don’t worry! Just take pictures of whatever I’m not getting. Oh, but remember-I’m a purist and I never, ever use automatic settings. You have to adjust all the setting manually.”

I looked at Tracy. A cloud of panic quickly stormed in.

“What settings?”

“Just the ISO, aperture, shutter speed…”

“Yeah, ok, except I don’t know how to turn the camera on. And, those words you just said? I don’t know those words.”

She took the camera, showed me how to turn it on, said some stuff about light and an F-stop that at the time made sense but none of which I can remember now.

“Ok, you take some pictures in the room and get a feel for adjusting the settings.”

I took the Cannon XYZ 3,000 and started experimenting. Quickly, each photo I took was: white, white, white.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna do this.”

“Relax. I’ll be right there. If you have a problem: #1 Do NOT show anyone the photos you’ve taken. #2 Come over and say, ‘What do you think of these’ and that will be our code that I need to readjust the camera for you.”

Ten minutes later, now a fully vetted photographer, I brushed my teeth and headed to bed.

In the morning, there was a flurry of activity. Meet the models. Stage the shots. Boat. Suite. Lobby. Then off to the idyllic waterfalls of-TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY LAND OF WATERFALLS!!!

Things were going surprisingly well. I was back to carrying heavy things, my specialty. At the base of our first waterfall our models readied themselves for the being in love in the LAND OF WATERFALLS!!! shots. Tracy was focusing on in-love-couple #1 while, I had in-love-couple #2 who had just met that morning. I could now add “Katie Richards-Love Director” to my quickly growing resume.

At some point, while instructing perfect strangers to hop repeatedly hand-in-hand over a stream, cuddle under a flannel blanket and gaze sweetly into each other’s eyes, my screen began registering: white, white, white.

“How’s it looking?”, girl model #2 asked. “Can, I…”

“NO!! I mean… It’s just that Tracy doesn’t like for people to view unedited photos. Tracy! Could you take a look at these pictures?”

Tracy casually glided over and scrolled.

“Oh yeah! Looking good!”, she said as she adjusted everything adjustable.

Click. Ah! Back in business. After an afternoon of shooting waterfalls, road biking, fly fishing and family recreation photos, we concluded the day on a high note at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet where we ate all we could eat.

Day 2.

Having gotten a few respectable pictures the previous day and feeling perhaps a tad overconfident, I arrived at the lobby ready to go. Where? I had no idea but, I was ready.

“Alright, so Tracy, we have a helicopter booked for the aerial shots. We’ll need to be at the airport in an hour.

“Yeeeeeeeess!!”, I exclaimed under my breath. I love helicopters!

“And, Katie, we’ve booked you on a rock climbing shoot at Looking Glass Rock.”

Oh, fuuuuudge.

“But, don’t worry, you’ll have help. Our intern, Valencia, is quite an accomplished photographer herself and, will be at your service.”

So there I was, being driven to my very own photo shoot, having my bags carried and light bounced by a drop dead gorgeous model/photographer/intern who was the epitome of cool. There would be no world renowned photographer friendo to bail me out if things got weird.

I shook hands with the climbing guide who had been hired for good money to climb with his wife and two adorable children for our shoot. And, I went with it. Leaning on my experience as a climber, I introduced myself and started setting up the shoot.

There was some good morning light filtering in through the trees and hitting the top half of the route.

“So, Dave. I think it will work really well for you to lead this pitch and then bring me up to the anchor. I’ll go in direct and you can bring your family up one-by-one as I take some photos from that vantage point. How’s that sound?”

I leaned out from the anchor, weighting my tether while directing folks to smile, enjoy the moment and get that hair out of their eyes!

Before I knew it, we were wrapped up and headed to downtown Brevard to capture the local color. Valencia and I were walking down the street while Tracy was taking pictures of a bluegrass band and, what did I see? A cross-country uni-cyclist making his way towards the town center.

“Valencia, run! We’ve gotta get him!”

We caught up to the uni-cyclist just in time. Sign media release. Stage shot. Lay down in street to get good shot and look like a professional photographer badass. Check.

I wondered to myself, ‘What’s that smell?’

‘Victory, Katie. Victory.’

Thus ended my two-day career as a professional photographer.