Life At 360 Degrees - Part 2

The date had been set, we would be shooting one pano for Crowne Plaza of Harrisburg! At this point I was BEYOND nervous. What if I drop the camera?! What if I can’t figure out the white balance properly? It has been a few years since my junior year photography classes so I was pretty rusty to the usual practice of taking professional pictures. Who am I kidding! I was borderline freaking out.

Looking back now, I can’t even understand what I was so afraid of. We were out of there in the span of 20 minutes. It was totally easy, and a lot of fun! The ballroom was set up to resemble an evening dinner setting. We made the suggestion of lighting the candles for a nicer picture. There was also the matter of a burnt out light bulb on one of the sconces that absolutely had to be replaced. I ended up having to borrow a lighter from one of the front desk agents and we snagged a light bulb from the second ballroom right next door. A few pushed in chairs and minor adjustments later, we were ready to shoot. For 360 panos, the camera has to be at the center of the room as is possible. Once we found the most ideal placement, my stepfather began showing me how to set up the camera. I took a deep breath as I began taking pictures. Snap! First picture taken. I moved the camera until it clicked into place. A second snap. This continued until the camera was back in the position I had started. Then I did another 360 at 30 degrees up, then one at 30 degrees down. Andddddd finished! We packed up and headed down to let the marketing director know that we had finished. Unfortunately, she was pretty busy in and out of meetings so we let her assistant know that we would follow up in an email. With a job well done, we thought we would reward ourselves with Chick-Fila on the way home. I even scored a FREE vanilla milkshake in honor of their grand opening! I believe the correct reaction for this moment is “YAAAAAAAAAAS!” I love milkshakes, okay?

My stepfather also works as a part-time caregiver for a boy with cerebral palsy and water on the brain. He cannot form a single word but this young man has more love and kindness in his heart than any person I’ve met that actually has the ability to form words. Whenever he sees me, he stretches out his arms asking for a hug. Melts my heart.

I had the opportunity of meeting his grandmother the very same day of the shoot, who is an incredible woman. Much respect for this lady. I had been wearing my boots for the shoot and when I stepped into the house, his grandmother let out a little shout. “So these are the boots that I’ve been hearing so much about! OH MY, you go girl!” I immediately broke out into a wide smile. Okay, this grandma is super awesome!!!

So here was the finished product of my first ever 360 pano (Crowne Plaza - Harrisburg):

http://www.spherovision.net/html5/US126LS/J122/crowneplaza.html