What Pressure?

The last few days I've been writing about an insignificant issue: To have or have not comments on a Blog. Then I ran into technical difficulties!

There will come a time, most likely during the biggest shoot of your life, when technical problems arrive like mosquitoes on your son's banana-smeared face. Your sim card won’t register, your notebook isn’t booting, your extension cord is too short, and that new assistant kicked the hair light you spent too much time positioning. Need I go on? Your subjects are twitchy, the magic light is over, the stylist is on her PDA writing a new invoice, and your fingers are swollen. Whatever: Something is broken.

So just how Zen will you be in a technical crisis? First, broadcast that you need to tweak something. Don’t explain, don’t complain and above all else, don’t apologize. Just make your announcement with big enthusiasm! Then quickly set up an amusement. You will have better ideas, but I am talking about simple and fast. Throw a hat in the middle of the room/street/studio. Dole out some playing cards and challenge folks to see who can flip a card right into the hat. This silly time waster will hold folks' attention for about 8.5 minutes. If you need more time to fix your problem, divvy up the parking meter change and let the betting begin. Still not ready to shoot? No table limit.

Get up now to add a roll of quarters and a deck of cards to your Pelican Top Loader.