Had a chance to take some photos of a friend, two of whose many talents are looking great in front of a camera and changing clothes, hair, and makeup several times an hour. It was a totally new experience for me, as I had never taken pictures of anyone before with this many lights—6 altogether. (Plus, I had never seen my bathroom so completely commandeered.) This is peanuts for the pros, but for me it felt like a big production. Key light, two rear/side lights, hair light directly overhead, and two on the background. Big gold reflector off to the right, just out of frame.

At the end of the evening we were left with 822 shots on the camera . . . and surprisingly, I didn’t even have to change batteries. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten near that many on a single charge before. But turns out that that 822nd shot was the last one that battery had in it, for when I powered up the camera the next day, it died again right away.

Don’t let anybody tell you that taking these kind of shots for several hours straight is not hard work—for the model especially, who probably wants to go home and never smile or make eye contact with anyone again, but also for the photographer, who (in my case) was not exactly using a pocket camera. Round about shot 119 the shoulders start to burn . . .

Here are a couple more for fun: