You want how many, how big? (pt. 2)

Picture: Panorama looking out over the Mission District from Delores Park, San Francisco, California

Click on the photo to see the image larger.

I mentioned in my last blog post that I’d been working on a pretty big image. The 10×80′ panorama of redwood trees was the largest print ever made of one of my pictures in over two decades. Well, that record didn’t even last half a year.

Recently I received a call from a referred client who had one of the most demanding jobs I’ve ever encountered in my career. It wasn’t just what they were asking for, but more by how fast they needed the work done. So here’s what they needed:

3:00pm Wednesday the client calls needing a quote for (8) 10′ x 95′ (Feet) panoramic photos of (4) notable San Francisco neighborhoods; two each from Chinatown, the Mission District, North Beach, and Fisherman’s Wharf. (These were going to be used as photographic display banners for an event, to represent the actual parts of the city.)

BUT… they needed all the finished and sized images to their printer in San Francisco by noon on Friday.

From first call to deadline was about 45 hours. Fortunately, my experience of working with the other large panorama images gave me a good idea of what to expect. The only problem was that there’d be absolutely no room for error. (This is part of what defines a professional – you have to deliver.)

As if the assignment wasn’t already stress-inducing enough, on Wed. evening at 9:00pm, my main-production computer suffered a massive brain hemorrhage, loosing my entire user profiles, all of my software presets & preferences, etc. I went into full panic mode. Fortunately my wife stepped in (as the angel she is) and worked until 1:00am in the morning with an on-call web-based tech support company to at least get my machine back up and running.

Picture: Panorama of Chinatown looking toward the Bay Bridge, San Francisco, California

Click on the photo to see the image larger.

Yes, I got the job done – with more than 2 hours to spare. I shot Thursday, and spent an all-nighter through Friday morning working at my computer like a college kid cramming for finals.

And another thing which has never happened to me before: the client was so pressed for time, they weren’t even be able to choose which images they would get. I had to do that myself. Fortunately I’m part photo editor, too. By the time the clients first saw the what the photos looked like, they were already at the printer. Even more fortunately, the client loved them!

To see how the photos were used, check out these images graciously provided courtesy of fellow photographer, Gustavo Fernandez, who photographed the event. Gustavo specializes in weddings, portraits, and events. You can see more of his work on his web site at gustavofernandez.com

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