Chapter 3

The next couple of weeks were a bit of a whirlwind, culminating in Lou's Valentine's Day party. To be honest, we didn't see each other much those two weeks or so; we were both very, very busy.

First thing Monday morning (well, only if 9:30 AM is first thing for you like it is for me) found me in Diamond's office. She was delighted with the pictures and jus so happened to have had an advertising account representative coming in at 10, so I stuck around. When he arrived, Diamond showed him the pictures and he started spouting ideas that were very similar to the ones Diamond and I had discussed. Before very long, Diamond had contracted with me to photograph her people doing their various things and an entire ad campaign was planned, including TV ads. There was just one hitch.

"How soon can you get the pictures taken?" asked George, the account rep.

"How soon do you need them?" I countered.

"Today, if you have them," he deadpanned. "Tomorrow, if possible. Friday at the latest."

"What's the rush?" I wondered aloud.

"Advertising rates go up in February," George said, reasonably. "That's after the sweeps, you see. If we can get something started in January, we can lock in lower costs. You do want lower costs, right, Diamond?" Diamond, of course, nodded her head enthusiastically.

I thought about my schedule. "Looks like I'll be here tomorrow taking pictures," I groaned. "I should have something by Wednesday or Thursday. What format?"

George and I were then off discussing various digital formats and resolutions for a couple of minutes. After he left, Diamond and I had a little discussion about what I'd be doing. It really wouldn't do to have her customers in too many of the pictures, so we decided use the same group of women who had been with us on Saturday night. Diamond said she'd make the arrangements and we'd work around everyone's schedule. We agreed to start the pictures before she opened on Tuesday. I inwardly groaned again; I hate early morning, but there wasn't any hope for it. Besides, the convention was next week and I had a boatload of work to do before I left. Oh, well...

As soon as I could, I got to the studio. Naomi had several messages for me to return calls, which I did. I also told Naomi about the session I had planned for the next day, which would, in all likelihood, last most of the day. Before I started in on working on the competition prints, I reloaded the van with the equipment I thought I'd need. That way, I could work on the files without too much interruption or distraction.

With Naomi screening the calls, I knew I could count on the time I needed to get the pictures for the competition ready. I decided to hold off on the group picture as I wanted to see what interest it would generate in real-life before I submitted it for critique. I have a fragile ego where my pictures are concerned, so success in commerce would give me a buffer against the sometimes cruel comments of my colleagues.

I looked over the files I was going to submit, tweaking them here and there, adding vignetting, etc. Then I looked critically at Lou's picture. I retouched a skin blemish here, removed a stray hair there, and generally made it worthy of the competition. When I got to the point where I loved it, I stopped, saved it and shut it down. I got up and talked to Naomi and ate lunch a little late. I even read some articles in a trade magazine; anything to distract me for a little while.

Two hours later, I returned to the pictures, ready to finalize them. Looking at them, I made a few tweaks and then sent them to the lab electronically with printing and finishing instructions. In the bad old days, pre-digital, instructions would have been very detailed and the photographer would have been at the mercy of the printer's (another human) expertise. Could the printer read the photographer's handwriting? Did the instructions make sense? If the instructions made sense, did what the photographer want match what the printer thought? It was all very chaotic, at least in retrospect. Usually it worked out fine, but sometimes the photographer (who was an artist) and the printer (who was also an artist) would not have the same vision, and what came out in the wash was sometimes a really huge argument!

However, with the digital age, most of the control is in the hands of the photographer. The big thing is the calibration of what the photographer sees in his monitor with what the computerized printer puts out. That calls for careful calibration, and a good lab will send a color profile of their printer to the photographer with which to tag the final photographs. With those digital instructions on the file, the computer at the lab will interpret what the computer at the studio "saw" and make the corrections for the printer. It's all very esoteric and arcane, very like magic, but it works beautifully.

The real instructions, therefore, are in the finishing end of things and competition prints have to be 16" by 20" in size, and then sprayed several times with a clear lacquer to bring out the color under the very bright lights at the judge's table. When the finished picture is handled, it is only with white cloth gloves so that there are no fingerprints; the lacquer shows up every flaw!

With that done, I started working on the spa pictures for the ad. If necessary, I would hold off on the nude picture for later; after all, first things first! It took me over an hour to find all of the flaws and correct them. Most people would only see a small print version and most of the flaws were only a few pixels in size, but I can be something of a perfectionist in this area, so I didn't feel like it was time wasted, especially if Diamond wanted a large version for her to display at the spa.

When I was finished, I looked up and saw Naomi standing there. "Boss," she said, "it's 5:30. Time to go home." I glanced at my watch and then agreed with her. She took off as I shut everything down. I grabbed my two best cameras and put them in a bag, made sure I had extra batteries and then I went home.

It was kind of lonely there, but after feeding Jake and myself, I decided that we needed a walk. Jake and I wandered around for about two hours, despite the cold, and when we got back we were both pretty knackered. I called Lou and spoke with her for a few minutes and then I caught the tail end of a crime drama, watched the news and then crashed for the evening. Who needs alcohol when you've got hard work and exercise?

Tuesday morning found me at Diamond's spa at about 7:00 AM. Thank goodness for fast-food breakfast! Diamond, Tricia and Portia were already there, and as I was hauling in some lights, Michele and Jordan showed up. They each grabbed something and we made it all in one trip. Diamond and I had a short conference and we decided to start in the massage room, and to end up in the mud room.

We all trooped to the massage room and I set up a couple of lights and asked for a volunteer to be naked on the table with the rocks on her back. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth and Tricia stared peeling off her clothes.

"Wait a minute, Tricia!" I cried. "I can't take nude pictures of you! You're not legal yet!"

"As of about 20 minutes ago, I am," she said. "Today's my birthday! I'm eighteen!"

There was a lot of feminine squealing at that, mixed with lots of congratulations, mine included. She was wearing a bra when she accepted my congratulations, and my eyes naturally focused on her tits. She thrust her chest in my direction and said, "Like what you see, Jonny?" I could tell she was teasing, and I just nodded like a bobble-head.

Soon, she was completely bare and on the table. Diamond draped a white cloth very low on her hips and arranged the rocks along her spine. I had Michele play the part of the masseuse. I know it should have been Jordan, as it was her job in real life, but I wanted the contrast in the skin tones between Michele's African hands and Tricia's Caucasian back for the picture.

Soon, I was snapping away quite merrily. We moved to another room where they did facial, and I had Jordan in my sights. The next room was pedicures, and Diamond posed for that with Tricia "doing" her toenails. Again, it was great for skin color contrast. Finally, we made it to the mud room and all five ladies stripped down to nothing and got into the mud. By noon, I had almost all of the pictures we would need.

However, we still needed some shots of people getting their hair done. This was a spa, after all. This would involve some waivers, and I had Diamond make some up on her letterhead. Carefully, I took some pictures and noted who was in them and had Tricia go around getting signatures. Everybody seemed enthusiastic. I guess having your face in an ad that's going to be seen all over town can be exciting. I guess. I also took some from the back into a mirror of a young lady whose hair was very curly as she fluffed her hair when I told her to. By 2 PM, I was finished and famished.

I got some lunch and went back to the studio where Naomi gave me my messages. I basically told her to handle things as I didn't want to be disturbed. She said she understood and turned away from me, but I could tell the hurt in her voice.

Of course, I couldn't let that just be; I had to know what was bugging her. "OK, Naomi," I said. "I'm not the smartest guy alive, but I can tell when something is wrong. What is it?"

She turned to me, one eyebrow arched. "Are you sure you want to know?" she asked. I nodded. She then launched into a litany of little hurts, not all of my making. The biggie, it seems, was that I hadn't confided in her about Lou. It wasn't exactly jealousy, seeing as how she was married and all, but something close to it. Naomi had been with me since she was in high school and I had been her sounding board, her adult confidant, for many years. I guess she thought I should reciprocate with some confidences of my own. Maybe she was right.

I explained that this thing with Lou was only a few weeks old, since New Year's, so I didn't know a whole lot that I could share with her. I promised to keep her in the loop in the future. That seemed to satisfy her and she went back to her work much happier. I was left alone to work, which I did until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I looked at the clock and it was well after 7 PM! Naomi had left me undisturbed and there were several messages on sticky notes on my door, including one from her noting the time she left and wishing me good night.

The next week went by in a blur. I got Diamond's ad pictures to her account rep by Thursday, photographed a couple of families on Saturday, and spent the night and Sunday at Lou's, just hanging out. She was pretty busy sorting a new client's receipts and working to get other clients' financial affairs lined up for tax forms. I just kind of hung out and watched TV. She had given me permission to bring Jake along, and we took a few solo walks and a couple with Lou. Jake loved the extra attention.