Working So Hard You Get Carpal Tunnel

One of my clients wanted to add some images of people with disabilities to the library of stock they keep for the company. So over the last few weeks I’ve been shooting people signing, a guy in a wheelchair, crutches tucked into the corner of an otherwise standard office scene etc. I think it’s amusing though, that one of the disabilities she wanted to include is carpal tunnel. I raised my concerns (mainly, advertising that if you work for our company you’ll get a horrible repetitive stress injury), and the client agreed with me, but wanted to capture the shots anyway. Here’s a sample from that shoot – I love the expressions and the blown-out quality of the light and focus…just wish it they didn’t involve a wrist guard. This is the happiest carpal tunnel sufferer in the world!

In retrospect I should have shot the same thing without the guard, but like most of my shoots I had only limited time with my “models” and was concerned about getting through my shot list before all of them left to go do their real jobs.

Also, these shots were done with my new cheapo 50mm lens which I talked my office into getting for me. I’ve been leaving just this lens on my camera for the last couple of weeks, kind of going back to my first camera which ONLY had a 50mm lens. The next lens that I’m going to start pushing for, though, is one that I really really want and unfortunately really really can’t afford: the 85mm prime.