Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head..

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup…

Oh wait, I live in New York. I don’t have a ‘downstairs’. Downstairs for me is the street.

So I actually documented a fascinating day last month in the life of being an extremely powerful and high profile photography agent. And yes this is real documentation, not some made up fluff. It’d probably be more interesting if I made it up though.

9.00am - At work, trying to convince myself that ham with my two eggs and cheese wrap makes it a lot healthier than, say, bacon.

9.30am - Call one of my photographers, to see how his first shot went for an assignment he’s on. It’s a multiple location shoot so I want to make sure they at the very least started on time. All is well.

10.00am - Going through emails, sorting, deleting, seeing what’s ahead for the day. I personally hate email clutter and I file as much away as soon as it’s done.

10.30am - Finally receive the concepts for an ad job that was supposed to have been sent the day before…of course the conference call is at 11am. And of course my talent is located in Europe for this one. Forward the email immediately.

10.40am - Talk to talent about the concepts. Lots of great creative ideas but also lots of questions. Tell the artist to have as quick a read as possible about how he envisions shooting it.

10.50am - Call pushed back 15 by client. Thank goodness.

11.30am - Call happens! Everyone is very nice, there’s always the awkwardness associated with conference calls, where everyone has to ask two or three times if they can be heard, who’s on the call, etc etc. Photographer gives his creative input, and the thing I like about this one is that he is always honest about the creative. He talks about the ideas he likes and nicely but firmly talks about the ones he thinks don’t really make sense. Some good back and forth, have a very large yet rough estimate to come up with.

12.30pm - Lunch: Curry beef puff, tomato soup, that tastes more like pasta sauce. Odd mix to start with so I shouldn’t be complaining.

1pm - Call art buyer about an upcoming option in 2 weeks…getting close! By this point you basically know it’s not happening. Then again jobs have been booked the day before. Leave voicemail.

2.13pm - Review new editorial contract from existing client. The last contract was with the photographer’s previous agency and the time difference spans a few years…lots has changed in that time! Though the new contract is much more photographer friendly and I re-read it 3 times to make sure that’s the case.  Forward onto the boss with comments for review.

3pm - Exchange a few emails with a potential assistant for one of my photographers. We get these emails all the time, bless their souls. This one actually seems promising so make a mental note to forward onto the photographer.

3.30pm - Start the estimate for the ad job. This one actually has a decent budget and I talk to our producer about it, who was also on the conference call. Given the rough creative we decide to estimate it with leeway in lots of areas (read: we overestimate almost everything) and will tighten it up with more creative direction.

4.30pm - Head out for a portfolio review/meeting with colleagues to a creative agency at their office. Books has been sent over the day before. The meetings are always nice and this is a client who has put options on our guys but we haven’t had the pleasure of working with. Maybe our charm, power suits and french pastries will do the job this time.

Their office happens to be really cool, even for a creative boutique. Hear some great stories about some of their clients involving celebrities, file for future reference.

5.40pm - Back at office, check in with my photographer finishing his day. Day went well, thank goodness. Go through emails and notebook for next day’s To Do’s.

6.30pm - Head to the gym.  Another day completed in the wheeling and dealing world of a top class photography agent.