A couple of days ago I had a flash fail while at a photo shoot. I was half way through the shoot when a flash gave off a huge bang and puffs of smoke, this was fun to see, but not what I wanted! It was dead.
After looking at it in shock, disgust and general annoyance, I realised it needed replaced. Thankfully I had a spare flash of the exact same model so swapping out would be easy. A couple of minutes after the bang, we were back on the shoot.
This brings some things to mind.
Next time you are on a shoot, consider what items you are using and the impact you would have if any item was to fail? Do you have a spare; Camera, memory card, flash, tripod, light stand, radio trigger, batteries(!) or whatever.
Next consider the likelyhood of failure and the severity of the failure to your business. Now plan a system of backups, quickly.
Being stuck at a shoot without a camera would not be funny. Having backups can protect the shoot and more importantly your reputation within the industry.
As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus said “Hey, let’s be careful out there.”
