Teamwork: DON’T annoy your people!
There are always important lessons to be learned while working in team, and I feel myself lucky to have learned many of them already in my day to day job. It happens, though, that some times the rules that you know so well, as they were not needed to be told, are crossed by someone else in the team, and the stability of the entire group is at stake.
In my career I have made many mistakes, but I have learned a lot in the many years working in teams, and one of the most important rule is that everyone in it is important and that you cannot annoy your own people. You must NOT p**s anyone off, otherwise the chain reaction that you generate will be very hard to be stopped.
Producing and directing a photography session can be an amateurish job, but we like to take things a little bit more professionally, mainly because the more professionalism you use, the more your results will be good. And if you hadn't noticed it already we want to produce top quality results.
"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." (Sirius Black - Harry Potter)
When on a session, I tend to see and treat everyone with the maximum respect, both those who work in front of the camera and those who work hard to make the shoot happening. They have the same share of importance for the success of a session. I do not treat models badly, I do not think that anyone in the set is an "inferior" and I respect each and everyone. If someone is in the team, he or she is making things happen. This is paramount, and everyone who crosses this line, whoever they are, they have a problem with me. Photographers, Models, Make-Up Artists, Hair Stylists, Stylists, Assistants: they are all valuable members of the team and I treat each and everyone of them with the same respect!
So it happens that during one of the last sessions one of the team members thought he/she (you say the sin, not the sinner) was better than someone else and decided that he/she could have crossed the line, treating other members of the team in a disrespectful manner. Let me explain what can happen when a model, this was this case, is badly treated: he or she will start losing trust in the team and will not be able to relax properly in front of the camera. Result? The shot is compromised. End of the story. End of the session.
Luckily Fabiana and I have very good crisis management skills and we have lived through many similar issues already. If you want to fix these cracks in the team, when possible, you need to work harder than usual. There must be cooperation between everyone as if one of the parties involved is not doing his or her best to mend things, there is nothing anyone can do to save the session.
This time we were lucky enough to work with some really professional models, who were willing to work hard to mend this issue. As usual Fabiana was tackling the problem from one side and I did my bit from another: being able to split the roles in these times is vital and Fabiana and I can display different strengths to tackle issues from different points. Luckily this time, personal clashes were, if not fixed, ironed up for the length of the session.
Everyone in a team has to remember that everyone else is vital for. No prima donnas are allowed, no one is superior as everyone must work together to create some stunning images.
Someone thinks that, being in the world of fashion, these things are allowed to happen. In my opinion you can be with prima donnas, because probably this is what the environment brings people to be, but once on the set I value professionalism: who is not professional in his or her role will not go far.
You NEVER go far stepping on other team member's toes, Fashion or no Fashion.
YOU DO NOT ANNOY PEOPLE IN OUR TEAM! Otherwise you can pack your stuff and go, as the result will be better without you!
...and if you think that being the photographer excludes you from the equations, let me tell you that you are starting with the wrong foot, as you are THE most important element in this. Screw up with someone and, as central point of the session, you will not gain the team's trust once more and your photos will s**k.