In my search for opportunities to make great art and stretch myself, I recently had a job interview for a videographer position at Koch Industries. After several phone interviews, they flew me to Kansas for two days for more interviews, to tour the site, and shoot a test video with their gear and crew.
While there were similarities to shooting for a client, there were differences too. There were people watching me shoot, scrutinizing my interaction with the talent, my confidence in the technical work and my interpretation of the vision, which is normal. It was a tight timeframe, which is pretty normal. I had traveled there and was shooting in unfamiliar territory, which happens with client work. On the other hand, I was handed a paper containing the vision for and details of the shoot the night before the shoot, which began at 7:30am. I hadn't seen or scouted online any of the areas prior to the shoot (couldn't). I was shooting with someone else's gear I wasn't totally familiar with. Usually when renting gear, you at least get to select what you'll rent. My flights both on the way there and on the way back were delayed or canceled, which squeezed the shooting/interview schedule.
Considering all this, it went pretty well. I felt very confident with my interviews, and while I was a little embarrassed trying to figure out their tripod and some other basic things, like the side-handle being disabled on the Red Scarlet, I felt the filming went well too. With a little more preparation and time (there were only 45 minutes scheduled for the whole fishing shoot, 30 of which we spent scouting and gearing up), I think I could have made a good video great.
I really liked the guy featured in the video. He has a lot of hobbies and spends a lot of time relating the principles of those hobbies to life in general, which are both things I relate to. I've written a book and built a whole website around getting good at things and learning about life that way.
If you or someone you know is looking for help with photo or video, whether for a short-term project, something longer, or even full-time help, get in touch. Let's see if we're a good fit.