A few weeks ago I had a shoot booked with some photographer friends. One of them set up a group and we get together every so often and shoot a couple of models, normally on one high key set up and the other low key for variation. Now I use the term model loosely, they can be anyone from someone met in a supermarket to aspiring models that fly over from Spain to get some portfolio pictures done. A real variety of individuals from different walks of life and it can be fun. It is also a bit like speed dating, in that with so many photographers in attendance you have about two minutes each time it’s your turn to introduce yourself, build a rapport, direct the subject and take the images before it’s time for the next one.

The main reason for me mentioning this is the morning before this shoot my main camera’s two PCB circuits decided to pack up leaving me with no squeeze for the main event. Now I could have made my excuses and not turned up. However I have a point and shoot in the shape of Sony RX100 MK2. This is a pocket camera with no viewfinder but an LCD on the back. Because in a studio environment you need to be in manual mode what happens with this camera when you half press the shutter to focus is that a white frame line appears and then the screen goes black. The beauty of this camera is it has a centre pin hot shoe which allows you to use the generic studio flash trigger’s provided at the venue. You need to keep the shutter speed below the camera’s maximum sync speed so I took a tripod to minimise the very real chance of blurred images.

Despite being the butt of many jokes, most of which are probably rattling around your head right now and me tentatively explaining why I didn’t have my ‘Real’ camera with me, I carried on, concentrating on communicating with my subject and directing the pose. Quickly adjusting the camera to hopefully get the image and click the shutter to a blank screen.

The point of this story is, you guessed it, the majority of the images I took that day came out very well and certainly much better than expected with headshots and portraits the subjects loved. So if and when your prized bit of all singing and dancing kit dies on you, and it will, beg, borrow or grab anything you can that will get the job done. It may not be perfect, but that doesn’t exist. You have however created something for someone who cares, and that’s all that matters.