Wow, the  next three weeks are very crazy with lots of shows.  I love it but it takes a lot of juggling in the background to make it all happen.  Yes, I have helpers but in the real world, Show Biz Photo is just me. When I have multiple shows going on in a week, it poses a problem.  Some weeks I have four shows going on.  I usually take the photos at a dress rehearsal which is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday with shows running either Wed-Fri or Thurs-Sat.  In many cases the dress runs at the same time.  On top of that, I have to "make the magic" happen and deliver photos and posters the very next day.  So I have to take the photos, edit the photos, post the photos to the web, print around 200 5x7's, 10 8x10's, 5 8x12's and 3-5 16x20 posters and one 20x30 collage poster.  The products go to an on site sales table where I sell the photos myself or I hire a sales table manager to sell them.  Not easy when you consider I'm not even hiring a part time worker. It's less than part time hours so people come and go. And then...maybe...just maybe I might make some money...but it depends. If the parents attend the show, they buy.  But depending on what the show is or the excitement level for that show, the parents may or may not show up. I know it's hard to believe that parents won't show up for their kid's show but it does happen.  Fortunately, most parents show up and everything works out in the end.  Just like a high school show, people don't see what goes on in the background, they only see the end results which just makes the magic that much more special.

Since 2000, I've probably photographed over 500 shows.  It's hard to say since I've pretty much lost count.  It could easily be 600 or 700 shows at least.  One thing that I'm always surprised by,  is no matter how many times I've seen a particular show, they can be very, very different.  For example, in general, I'm not crazy about "Little Shop of Horrors".  However one of the times I saw it, it was so funny and I loved every minute of it.  Same with "Harvey".   I've done that show way too many times but one of my favorite performances was here in Arizona by Desert Mountain High School.  The first two Rosie Award winners starred in that show and made it a memorable experience. That's what is so great about theatre, you just never know from one show to the next.

One of the photos from Desert Mountain High School's production of "Harvey" featuring our first Rosie Award winner Jasmine Youssefi  in 2013 and Alena Sanderson in 2014,