1-2-3 Jump Dang it!

I spent the last two weeks in California and Florida with a client of mine. we had some really good times! I was hired to set up a small photobooth for people that wanted to get their picture taken. The Idea behind the booth was to to mimic the the ads created for their new product. The original ads are pictures of people jumping, So we did the same thing, everyone was jumping.

The idea was a hit, we had a line of people for three solid days. my voice became hoarse counting and telling people where to stand. it was a lot of fun. I discovered a few different things about people in general.

1. Around 30% of people that think they are jumping.... can't leave the ground! its hard not to laugh when they are being so enthusiastic and they barely catch air. It reminds me of Napoleon dynamite "you got like six feet of air that time"

2. Some people have no concept of timing, 1-2-3 jump!... ok lets try again 1-2-3... Im not sure if this has anything to do with language barriers, but it was pretty dang funny watching people stand in their "ready to jump pose" for a few seconds before they realized the camera had already taken the picture. we would try again and to no avail almost every time.

3. Around 80% of people use the same pose jumping. arms straight in the air, which reveals their belly causing a re shoot. This was so trying... shot after shot people throwing their arms in the air, big belly's flopping out for all to see.

4. I have to laugh because a handful of people walked on to the set and faced the background instead of the camera. "uh hello, Could you turn around please??? wait, wait, only some of the way around... easy, easy, that's right, face me!

By the end of it all, my patience was wearing thin. to borrow a quote from one of my favorite movies... "baby steps to 4 o'clock". All in all it was a success. We walked away with some great photos. I want to make a coffee table book of all of the out-takes. It would make for a great book. I just need to make the people anonymous!

Next time you find yourself in one of these situations, just laugh! It makes a stressful experience an enjoyable experience!