First Day

Because of my mentor's schedule, today was the first day of my senior project. Becasue Stephanie Sarles and I have mentors within the same corporation, we spent the day together shadowing the same person, Trey. Trey is an art director, and we spent today on location photographing rugs for the upcoming catalog and website. Today was the second day of a two-day shoot; they had already shot the cover pictures and a couple of spreads. Today we shot several sets of photos and the back cover.
We met Trey at the studio where they do most of the catalog's photography. After a breif tour, we left the studio and went to an on location photoshoot.  Once we arrived, Trey introduced us to the rest of his crew. There was a photographer, a photo editor, a location scout (who was responsible for finding the place we were shooting today), and several assistants. While they were setting up, Stephanie and I explored. We were in an old flour mill that had been partially converted into lofts. The building was huge, and really interesting to wander through. Lots of the original parts of the mill were still intact.
After a while we went back down to the courtyard where the photoshoot was in full swing. Prepping for each shot took much longer than you would expect; everything had to be perfect. The rugs had to be hung perfectly straight, without any ripples or bows in the fabric, the fringe was swept into submission, and once hung, each rung was steamed smooth. Next came the lighting.
I learned that the lighting of a product was paramount. Catalog covers can have darker, more dramatic lighting. The majority of a catalog's images, however, should be as light and neutral as possible without being boring. The biggest concern when shooting a catalog photograph is that the product be well-displayed. Images sent in emails should be very neutral with simple backgrounds that don't distract from the product.
What surprised me the most about today is how time consuming a simple catalog photo can be. A photo's pre-production takes forever! The location we shot at was great, but I have to admit, taking pictures of various rugs for eight hours gets boring, and the minutae involved can be very frustrating.