A lot of people are quick to flaunt their DSLRs when they get them but not all are aware of the fact that they are in fact adding finishing touches to their own death certificates. Photography is cool and all in the start, especially if you’re freelancing and doing it for yourself. The real trouble starts when you start bringing your cameras to events or worse; when you actually join the media team for an event.  I didn’t know what I was getting into when I joined the Media and Publications Society at LACAS but now that I’m in there and clearly suffering, I’ll just take advantage of my situation to warn all you readers out there about what happens when you’re stuck in your own photography hell.

The event itself surely is tiring when you’re part of the media team. Expect to be on the loose constantly. THERE IS NO FUN OR REST FOR YOU AT THIS EVENT. Don’t expect to be able to talk to your friends because you’ll be spending hours redoing the same poses with the same people until they achieve some sort of satisfaction. And if you’re in heels? Say bye bye to your legs. Honestly what were you even thinking if you showed up in heels? You’re gonna be bending all over, crouching, basically dying for people who won’t even acknowledge you the next day. And the moment you’re done, they’ll be walking away without a word as if you didn’t just try to grab their best angles out of nowhere. Rest is forbidden onto thee. As soon as you stop, people will gnaw their way out of the corners of hell in order to have you take their photos. So trust me, for your own sake, you should try to look at least a little unapproachable. Let me warn you though, even that might not help filter out the flow of people dying for a photo.

Now, I’m pretty sure this all seems awful already. But of course, the worse parts are left for later. Picture yourself dragging your dead limbs across your room to your bed after a long event. Sweet slumber is right across the corner but you decide you like pain so you open up your phone before you can shut those lids. Bad move! You’ll have notifications all over your phone. Maintaining your sanity at that point is just like trying to push yourself against a door that is the only thing separating you and a 100 raging bulls. Congrats! Maybe you finally got the social life you’ve always wanted with tons of friends. However, sadly 99% of the time it’s just an explosion of messages saying the exact same thing; ‘pictures?’. You’re better off shutting your phone down for an eternity at this point because the moment people know you’re available, they’ll be pounding at your doors like a bunch of thirsty zombies.

Now, lets say you give them their photos? Maybe you upload them online somewhere on a page. Your job still isn’t done. Not only will you get messages from fake busy bees asking you to scour 500+ photos for 3 of theirs because they are too busy to find it themselves but you’ll also be getting a lot of unwanted critique on your photos. “I look so bad in these photos.” Jeez, we aren’t plastic surgeons, don’t expect us to be able to fix your face. The media team is an oppressed one and the only way to survive is to understand your rights and to fight for your freedom.

By Khadija Niazi
Media and Publications Society President