Do You Check Over Your Equipment?

One of the key factors of running a Photographic and Video Production company is to achieve a standard of equipment service and maintenance.
It is one area of the company that means a great deal to me to have a procedure in place to keep the professional service offered by the company so to minimise the possibility of any failures.

I have seen many times by other individuals who are operating as photographers or videographers that when out working for a client, they have no backup
systems or spare units of equipment incase that time comes when something fails.

Although todays equipment is generally reliable, nothing should be taken for granted that it will perform as intended. Things go wrong!

Here at Alternative as far as I can remember, there has been only two times in many years where something has actually failed.
Once on a portrait shoot a flash lamp became a wee hot and needed to be retired outside an office to cool down and have a smoke out there!
Another was at a conference in London, a favourite lens of mine decided to loose its auto focus operation. But in both these cases there was extra equipment to hand so
no problem occurred in completing the jobs.
The fact is I always carry with me additional pieces, be it lenses or a camera body, so to avid the situation.

Pre Assignment Checks
Before I go out to any assignment I always run through my “kit bag”
A. To make sure all I need to have with me is there
B. To check that all is working as it should be

Back Ups
All pieces of kit being digital are up to date with the latest softwares/firmwares.
Having back item in the “kit bag”

Servicing
At convenient periods equipment items are sent away for testing and cleaning. Image sensors can become dirty and though I can clean them to standard
it is good practice to have the service centres give my equipment a professional overhaul.

Reasons
The reasons behind my procedure is so I have piece of mined that I will produce for my client on the day what is expected of me.
It also gives my clients confidence in my performance.

Another area of the company is to have a plan in place to up grade equipment items to keep them in good operation.
It was time to add to the fleet another fluid head tripod for the video projects so an early Christmas present to Alternative Images has recently arrived.

videographer

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“That Time of Year Again”

It’s that time of year where companies are edging closer to the end of the year and take time to reflect on the business and what has happened over the last twelve months.

Many use this time just a few weeks before the Christmas break to hold conferences and meetings to bring together a sales force to discuss and talk through the progress of the company or the pitfalls that have become clear during the year. It is also a good time to motivate a team in saying when we come back in the New Year we are to put in place strategies to drive their particular company forward within the market sectors and to offer positive thoughts.

When a meeting like this has been a day with intense brain teasing conversation, activity and business stressing thoughts, how good is it to also incorporate a more social, relaxed atmosphere by thanking your teams for their efforts with an Awards presentation or introduce some fun element to the close of the day.

I was contacted due to being a corporate events photographer to cover such an event recently where I was asked to photograph the days stage presentations by directors of the company. This moved onto the evenings function of awards and entertainment for all the delegates attending. Lets Party!

 

 

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