Draper is another one of my clients that I've never actually met in person (or seen on video if I think about it). They are a shades manufacturing company based out of Indiana and their products are installed all over the US. I get a call from them every few months to photograph a project in Texas and I absolutely love working with them.
This particular project was for several sets of automated shades in a home right outside of Austin. Usually, I like to scout a project prior to the shoot date, but when it's a two hour drive, it's not really worth it. So for this project, I was planning and shooting as I went.
Residence are usually tricky because you have to coordinate with the homeowner. It's always a crab shoot when it comes to the type of personality you'll be dealing with. I've been pretty lucky in my short career to deal with only fairly mellow people. Same goes for this project here. The homeowner was super friendly and I was able to grab some great shots.
But here's where I messed up........
I usually am pretty good and taking notes and going over them during a shoot. But there are so many factors you have to deal with on a shoot, that sometimes I'm just scrambling to get good shots before my allotted time is up. So this time, I forgot to check my notes and I missed a taking shots of the mechanisms above the shades...the ONE thing the client said was important to capture. (In my defense, it has been about 4 weeks since we had the conversation...but a bad memory doesn't make up for poor work).
So I left the project without the most important shot and I didn't realize til I was back in San Antonio. For me, driving back and forth to Austin for a couple shots is not that big of a deal. That's the price I pay for not being more thorough. My biggest issue was inconveniencing the homeowner. This poor guy had a sick wife and a newborn grandson in the house, and here I am asking to come back another day because I forgot a shot. Luckily, he was sympathetic to my situation.
Needless to say, I got the shots and the client was super happy!
