What do I mean by “baggage”?

I mean the crap we think about when we are making our work, the stuff that goes on between our ears that may have NOTHING at all to do with reality, but begins to weigh on us with false intentions and ruinous decisions.

When I was younger (Jurassic period I believe), I ate a dill pickle on an outing. The pickle was tainted with some hellacious thing and I spent two days hugging the porcelain god.

I couldn’t be around the smell of dill pickles for years. The mere mention of a dill pickle would make me want to gag.

And of course, this bore no resemblance at all to the reality that not ALL dill pickles are tainted, or would make me violently ill again. It was just ‘baggage’ that came along and made trips to my favorite deli more dangerous. For those of you who are interested, it was the “Miracle Mile Deli” at Park Central Mall. Best Corned Beef on Rye… ever.

Then there was the time I was shooting a big-time model who was being quite rude and arrogant to me. She made fun of my name, my way of shooting and pretty much everything in my studio. She berated the hair person and humiliated the MUA, while cursing at my assistant for absolutely no reason we could figure. Her local agent was there and was mortified, and the client was standing in the corner with a clinched jaw counting down the minutes to the end of the shoot. To say it was uncomfortable would be to say that -32F is “chilly”.

This model came from a new, and very hip agency in LA and I had been so excited about working with her that it was very disheartening to have her be such a douche. I tried to let it all roll off of me and concentrate on the gig. The client was a good one, and it was on me to make it work.

After that experience, I balked at using models that I had not worked with and insisted on testing with every model that was going to be considered. I let that one lousy model leave her baggage in my head, and in a move to make sure that it never happened again, I was overly wary of ALL models from that agency and pretty much anywhere else.

And that was wrong.

I had to let that baggage go. And the next model that came in from that agency was delightful and a blast to work with. She also told me that the rude gal had faked getting pregnant by some rich guy who dumped her – after which the agency fired her.

Karma… well, you can get the irony there, right?

But lets talk about one area where baggage can seem a bit harmless, but in reality can be quite a problem if we let it cloud our judgement.

The baggage of the “edit”.

It goes something like this.

You plan a big shoot for your book. Models, location, props, MU/Hair, wardrobe… the whole thing baby. A production. And it is going to cost you some bucks to pull it off. All the work that goes into a production of this size means it is important to you and your team to get something great.

The day of the shoot comes and instead of the bright sunny day promised by the weather gal, you get an overcast day with the feel of rain coming soon. You make some changes in your head and feel pretty confidant that you can still make this shot work.

Until you get to the location which is now barricaded by police because of a hostage situation and no, there is no way they are gonna let you go down to your location set until the situation comes to an end. (Offering to drive your car into the house as a battering ram so you can still get the shot done is not an option, so don’t ask.)

You quickly change gears and call the crew with a change of venue – one you had thought about initially but had forgotten about when you found the perfect location. The one next to the current crime scene.

Everyone gets the message.

Except the MUA who was waiting at the police line with her cell phone on silent. She had forgotten to turn the sound back up after last nights school meeting with her kid.

Finally she sees the messages piled up and listens to her messages.

The shoot is almost three hours behind now, and the light is changing fast.

Your assistant works some miracles getting the booms to stand on uneven ground, the MUA works as fast as she can, and gets the model ready. The model is tired and hungry but wants badly to do a great job for you.

And finally the shoot comes together.

With a model who is tired, quickly applied MU, hair in pretty decent condition, weather beginning to give you some fits with wind and some sprinkles… damn.

But you shoot it anyway.

And you get some good shots. In fact you get some really good shots… for the situation at hand.

Edit time comes and you sit and recall the bad weather, the ruined first location, the quickly chosen second location, the tired model and rushed makeup and wardrobe malfunctions and you realize that for all of that, for ALL of that crap you went through, you pulled a shot out that was not half bad.

Fine.

But see – that is baggage. You remember all that went wrong and how you braved it out and how you ended up with a shot that is not half bad at all.

Unfortunately being not half bad means it is pretty darn close to being half good.

And half good doesn’t cut it.

When you show that image, no one is going to know what went on during that shoot. No one is going to understand all that you and your team persevered through to get it. They will only have a shot in front of them that is “not half bad”.

And “not half bad” ain’t gonna get you the gig, Charlie.

The baggage of what you went through is part of your editing process and it shouldn’t be. Not at all.

You cannot let the baggage of the shoot experience quantify the work output.

It is ether good, or it is not good. It either supports your brand or it doesn’t.

By the way, it also doesn’t matter if the photograph came instantly to fruition or had to be wrestled to the ground like a greased pig – a good shot is a good shot and a turkey is a turkey. I have met way too many photographers who equated how difficult the shot was to do with how good the shot is.

That is bringing a different kind of baggage to the edit process, and not one that will benefit you in the long run.

When I say “baggage sucks” it is because whether emotional or technical, it is simply stuff from a previous time. It may or may not be of relevance in this moment, but it is exerting influence over our decisions.

Leave the baggage home, or better yet donate it to the Goodwill in your mind and forget about it. You are much better off without it.