Shedding Some Light on the Matter

In an earlier post I mentioned the lack of lighting in the equipment package issued to me when I started here last week. There was no light on the camera. There were no lights to put on stands. There were simply no lights, because the few that had been in the kit had been pilfered by other photogs while the gear had been in storage.

This was worrying me a bit, since I am supposed to start the nightside shift next week. While I'm no great lighting genius, I would like to be able to see the subject I'm shooting. A top light would have been fine. I learned basic three point interview lighting in school, so a real kit would have been nice also.

Today when I returned from my shoot, CP Rick called me into the equipment storage area. "I have presents for you," he said, and handed me an Anton Bauer top light. It's actually bent a little, but it works fine.

"I don't know what became of your lights," he said. "So you can have these." He pulled a black case over to me. Inside I found two Lowell Omnis and two VIP Lights, with barn doors and stands.

"These are brand new," I said, quite pleasantly surprised.

"Well, not exactly. They've been riding around in the back of Billy's truck for the past two years."

"But the stands still have the paper on them!" In fact, the stands were still in the brown paper sleeves from when they were shipped from the factory.

"Yeah," he said, "Billy has no idea what to do with a light. But I figured you might, so you get 'em. If you don't use 'em, I'll give 'em to somebody else."

"Thanks," I said.

"Don't mention it," he smiled. "I wouldn't want you to really think that I'm... What was it? 'Not a nice person?'"

Uh oh.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I may be grouchy, but I don't think I'm really THAT mean."

Oh shit.

"And I haven't made up my mind yet whether you're an idiot."

Oh god no. He let it hang there for a minute.

"Jesus Christ," he said, as he started to crack up laughing. "I really wish you could see your face right now."

Oh, he IS mean after all, to actually be enjoying this, to be laughing to my face about it.

"You read it," I said.

"Yep."

Awkward pause while he just grinned at me.

"So... What does this mean?" I asked.

"I don't know. What does it mean?"

Now I'm confused. Obviously I'm in a world of shit at this point. But if I were really in trouble, would he be giving me brand new lights?

"Do I, uh... Do I have to take it down?"

"You damn well better not!" he said. "That was some funny shit. Especially that shit about Jake. I've seen him standing up there before. I think he just likes to watch it go around." He was grinning ear to ear.

"So you aren't mad about what I wrote... What I wrote about you?"

"Why would I get mad about that? I AM mean. You better get used to it too, because I'm gonna ride your ass. You keep bringing back crap like that first day and I'll tear it to shreds. But I can't really fault a man for telling the truth."

At this point I was shaking. It was a combination of fear and excitement, and I couldn't suppress an embarrassed grin myself.

"Look," he said, turning a little more serious, "You can trash me all you want. I can take it. But I can't speak for other folks here. There are some fragile egos in this place. I'm not gonna tell anybody else about it, but... I can't exactly give you permission to do this either. If you get in trouble with it, you're on your own."

"Okay." That's all the response I could really muster at that point. My head was spinning.

"Now show me what you can do with the lights," he said, and kicked the case over with a loud thud. "I think I read somewhere you need a wireless also. I'll see what I can do about that."

It was a little tough to edit after that. I kept grinning spontaneously. The reporter gave me an odd look when she gave me her script and said, "Something funny?"

"Just happy to be here," I said. Now she thinks I'm weird.