Raising the Bar

It takes one to know one. I suppose my mother’s right.

It takes one to know one. Or at least that’s what she always said when I told her my sister was a liar. Whenever she said this, I wanted to quip that my sister was also a budding genius and a future spandex model, but I refrained. Because mothers are good at setting cheese on traps and I wanted to show her that I was no rat. Afterall, I was a budding genius.

It takes one to know one. I wanted to tell this to Mike Colon as he adjusted the lights in the studio. I’ve always suspected he was a perfectionist, but yesterday my hypothesis was confirmed. Much before the model appeared on the scene, Mike was testing the lighting and moving each stand to just the right spot.

Mike was shooting a cover for the fabulous Bride and Bloom Magazine and I was there to assist him. I can’t write too much about the shoot itself, but when it debuts, I’ll holla. However, what I can write about is my experience. And, well, I could go on and on about it, but I’ll try to spare the details and highlight the most important thing I learned. In a nutshell, a photographer can’t take short cuts. There’s no hard and fast rule, but consistently obtaining beautiful images comes not from luck nor a I’ll-Photoshop-it-later mentality…rather, it comes from taking the extra step to get things right and never settling for less. This was proven repetitively as Mike would move a light stand a fraction of a millimeter to the left or carefully instruct the model on how to catch the most favorable light. He’d hold out a cupped hand away from his body and invisibly guide the model’s face by merely angling his long fingers. Like a facial traffic guard.

We spent the entire day shooting many wedding accoutrements, yet over and over, Mike took the time and effort to make things perfect. This may seem like an inherent notion, but I was ashamed because I’m not nearly as established or successful as he and I questioned whether my bar was set as high. As we left the shoot late last night, I knew my standards were raised.

So, yes, Mike’s a perfectionist. However, I didn’t feel overcome or ashamed with this notion because my mother’s right. It takes one to know one.