I cannot believe we are past the halfway mark of 2020 already. What a wild ride. A really, really, wild ride. Can we get off yet? Asking for a friend….

This month did have some exciting moments to it though! I did another secret project with my friends up north at Makers and Allies (which is suspended in secret limbo with the other projects I’ve shot for them until the clients get to share), some cautious re-opening restaurant work that saw me hanging out with tasty BBQ and beautiful Italian food, some more additions to my Dramatic Produce series and a very wet and splashy bubbly fruit set that isn’t quite ready for eyes yet but was a fun fizzy mess! Also I photographed some moody details of the posh hotel room I stayed in while shooting for Makers and Allies because, well, there was nothing exciting on tv (except FORGED IN FIRE!!!) and what else was I going to do!

As most of the commercial photo industry has been doing, I’ve also been educating myself on safer sets, new shooting protocols and ways we can do more remotely with less bodies in the studio. It’s going to be a process for sure, but I’ve been following along with all the major industry webinars and guidelines and I’m confident with a little extra patience and cooperation we can keep carefully shooting projects together.

Here’s what this looks like so far:

Limited or reduced team, only essential folks on set, the rest can be plugged in remotely, I promise there are ways!
All people on set masked. No exceptions. I don’t shoot with a lot of models but if we need talent, they will be masked up until on camera and directly after. Hand models can obviously keep their masks on!
Extra sanitation materials on set, hand sanitizer and surface wipes and time allotted at the start and end of shoot for cleaning.
No more “family” meals for our lunch breaks, either individually packaged meals or per diems for crew to run and grab lunch for safety
Accommodating reschedule processes- this is going to be a tricky one to implement because of scheduling and rental fees but I think we can work together to make it successful. We are always on the same team and I don’t want anyone feeling obligated to come to a shoot if they are feeling sick- it’s not worth the risk right now! We will find a way!
Probably a bit more paperwork waivers for on set folks look like they may become the norm.
More exclusively remote shoots- I can shoot many different types of setups here at the RP home studio (just maybe nothing elephant sized!) which frees me up to work with folks further away than Los Angeles! We just plan around shipping the products here and collaborate on the prop sourcing. Shoots can be remotely approved via Slack, Zoom, Facetime, text message or email. The client doesn’t even need to be “on” all day, just “on call”!
Finally, getting comfortable with communication! More physical distance apart will need a little extra communication and clarity to keep the wheels on the track but I am thrilled to help guide you. Also I am at least medium nice!

One last resource to check out is the Safe Sets International Covid-19 course so all our potential crew members know the best practices for being on set and how to reduce the chances of Covid-19 impacting our shoot. Here’s my certificate of completion!