Once I heard a photo of mine was going to be published in a magazine, I immediately updated the resume I give to people thinking of hiring me. I knew it was going to give me confidence I had never had.
It would have been really nice if I were published in some kind of a wedding magazine, as I could have gotten into specifics and really wowed potentional clients. As that wasn't the case, I purposely left that part of it vague. Somehow I felt "Published in skateboarding magazine 'Thrasher'" might turn people off.
They might get scared I would "thrash" them. Whatever that means.
My first meetings with potentional clients were today and all of them went off without a hitch. In fact, they all went better than expected.
The first couple brought it up fairly quickly "Wow, out of all the photographers we met with, you were the first one that was published!". They went on to tell me how after they saw that, they brought it up to other photographers who had to respond with "No.". Except one. One said he had been published and when they asked for proof, he couldn't provide it. They knew he was lying and almost immediately cut the meeting short. I don't blame them.
After that I almost expected what was coming next. It almost scared me, but I kept my cool.
"So, if you don't mind us asking, can you PROVE that you were actually published?".
I panicked.
Just a little, but then I remembered 6 months ago I was working a shitty job and now I have the potentional to be doing what I love for the rest of my life. Here we go.
I so happened to have my laptop with me, and I leeched off the free Wi-Fi from the McDonalds next door to show them the e-mail from the editor as well as the page that would be published. I warned them first. These aren't wedding photos.
"Hey, I used to skateboard! Is "Birdhouse" still a thing? Do skaters still all love "Tony Hawk"? Isn't that guy from MTV a skater? Do kids still play 'Tony Hawk Pro Skater"? I loved that game!". For the next five minutes, this guy wouldn't stop reliving his glory days about an old skate park we both used to frequent, back when indoor paid skate parks were actually thing.
Dammmnn, I nailed this one.
I explained to him that skateboarding was the reason I got into photography, but that doesn't mean that's all I wanted to take pictures. Then he said it.
"Well, that makes me feel good because I know how quick you'd have to be to be a skateboard photographer. You only get one chance, and that chance flies by in a second. You can't screw it up.", he said.
"Just like.."
"WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY", we all said, in unison. Man. this is going better than I expected.
I always knew that skateboarding photography would help me stay on my toes, and ultimately help me as a wedding photographer, I just never thought to bring it up to potential clients. I figured that mentioning skating spots that had "NO SKATEBOARDING" signs plastered all over the place would make me look like a criminal. I didn't want to be a criminal in front of potential clients, so I left it out.
In the skateboard world, "skate park photos and video" are generally frowned apon, and the "Does park footage count?" question gets thrown around a lot. You'd almost never see skate park photos in an ad for Baker Skateboards with Andrew Reynolds blasting a front side flip over a pyramid, but potential clients don't know that.
Hopefully in the coming months I can nab some park photos to help show off that side of my work without making it look like we vandalized the place after. That's my next order of business.
That doesn't mean I'm going to submit those photos to Thrasher.
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