Return from Shawno
Put most of the finishing touches on my photo assignment yesterday.
A couple months ago, I had drinks with Josh to send him off to Arizona. He mentioned at the time that he would still be coming back for work and that he might have an assignment for me. I didn't think anything would come of it. But a few weeks ago, he said he would have one for me: Shooting employees and clients of his company for a promotional piece. His clients are developmentally disabled adults who are cared for in a home setting by his company. So off I went last week to Shawno and Menasha for the two shoots.
I don't like shooting people, but needed the money with cutbacks in my other freelancing this year. The people, setting everything - it was classic small town Wisconsin. But it was a good working vacation.
Of course most of the 'consumers' as they are dubbed were on good behavior. I heard enough stories to know that. Still, it was fun and I guess it was encouraging to see a relatively progressive philosophy at work in an otherwise backwards place.
Shooting was very difficult. The consumers were not photogenic and the settings were terribly dim. I had to shoot the whole thing in manual mode, and the flash couldn't always keep pace with the action. (Not that any flash would). I'm hoping that Josh is satisfied with the end result.
It was really nice to get out of the office and talk to people, rather than sit behind a desk all day and interview people by phone. I miss it, a lot. I spent most of the time listening I suppose. The people weren't extraordinarily compelling. They were pretty average. Just some extra texture to my life.
I learned there is a cult in Shawno. I say this partly in jest. But after the party Josh's coworker drove us by and told us about the family. I encouraged her gossip because I thought it would, if true, be good for a story in one of the local magazines. As we approached the compound (and it is a compound with tarps covering the house and everything) she predicted a woman in a white Cadillac would be watching us. And sure enough, at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, there was a very corpulent, very pale woman in a white Cadillac watching us as we passed by.
Josh's coworker predicted that when we turned around and came back, the woman would take our photo. And as we turned around, the woman in the Caddy pulled out and stopped in the road. Josh's coworker rolled down the window and asked for directions to a local bar. The woman took our photo. We drove home. The police showed up a few minutes later. The woman complained that we were harassing her. The group's whole tangled story made CBS evening news the next night. So much for my story idea.
It was good to see Josh again. I think we need to keep in better touch. He reads some different things than I do, so it keeps me exposed to new people. And he's always writing something. Bryan hated the one piece of fiction Josh wrote. Understandable. The voice wasn't quite there. But I think Josh is still in that experiment and try anything stage. His other short pieces have been better.
One of thing I appreciated after watching him interact for two days with staff and disabled adults is that he talks to them all as human beings. He doesn't use that absurd high-pitched, carefully enunciated diction that most people (and some of his staff) use when they talk to seniors, children and anyone they think is stupid.
The other thing that surprised me was that despite the drama when you get a bunch of middle-aged Wisconsin women together, there was a sense of community between the staff and consumers. It was obvious from watching the husband of one staff member that he had taken an interest over the years in her consumer, who had Down's.
A couple months ago, I had drinks with Josh to send him off to Arizona. He mentioned at the time that he would still be coming back for work and that he might have an assignment for me. I didn't think anything would come of it. But a few weeks ago, he said he would have one for me: Shooting employees and clients of his company for a promotional piece. His clients are developmentally disabled adults who are cared for in a home setting by his company. So off I went last week to Shawno and Menasha for the two shoots.
I don't like shooting people, but needed the money with cutbacks in my other freelancing this year. The people, setting everything - it was classic small town Wisconsin. But it was a good working vacation.
Of course most of the 'consumers' as they are dubbed were on good behavior. I heard enough stories to know that. Still, it was fun and I guess it was encouraging to see a relatively progressive philosophy at work in an otherwise backwards place.
Shooting was very difficult. The consumers were not photogenic and the settings were terribly dim. I had to shoot the whole thing in manual mode, and the flash couldn't always keep pace with the action. (Not that any flash would). I'm hoping that Josh is satisfied with the end result.
It was really nice to get out of the office and talk to people, rather than sit behind a desk all day and interview people by phone. I miss it, a lot. I spent most of the time listening I suppose. The people weren't extraordinarily compelling. They were pretty average. Just some extra texture to my life.
I learned there is a cult in Shawno. I say this partly in jest. But after the party Josh's coworker drove us by and told us about the family. I encouraged her gossip because I thought it would, if true, be good for a story in one of the local magazines. As we approached the compound (and it is a compound with tarps covering the house and everything) she predicted a woman in a white Cadillac would be watching us. And sure enough, at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, there was a very corpulent, very pale woman in a white Cadillac watching us as we passed by.
Josh's coworker predicted that when we turned around and came back, the woman would take our photo. And as we turned around, the woman in the Caddy pulled out and stopped in the road. Josh's coworker rolled down the window and asked for directions to a local bar. The woman took our photo. We drove home. The police showed up a few minutes later. The woman complained that we were harassing her. The group's whole tangled story made CBS evening news the next night. So much for my story idea.
It was good to see Josh again. I think we need to keep in better touch. He reads some different things than I do, so it keeps me exposed to new people. And he's always writing something. Bryan hated the one piece of fiction Josh wrote. Understandable. The voice wasn't quite there. But I think Josh is still in that experiment and try anything stage. His other short pieces have been better.
One of thing I appreciated after watching him interact for two days with staff and disabled adults is that he talks to them all as human beings. He doesn't use that absurd high-pitched, carefully enunciated diction that most people (and some of his staff) use when they talk to seniors, children and anyone they think is stupid.
The other thing that surprised me was that despite the drama when you get a bunch of middle-aged Wisconsin women together, there was a sense of community between the staff and consumers. It was obvious from watching the husband of one staff member that he had taken an interest over the years in her consumer, who had Down's.