If he’d arrived ten minutes later I’d have gone home and his day would have been ruined. But the expression on the man’s face as he tried to open my locked front door suggested he was in urgent need of something. Indeed he was. He was shooting a wedding at a nearby venue and his camera had packed up. He’d been to the local camera shop to see if he could rent or buy one, but found it closed. I was his last hope.
Lucky for him I’m a nice guy! Despite feeling quite vulnerable at the thought of a total stranger walking out of my studio with my spare camera in his hand, I took his old (dead) camera off him, plus a pocket camera and his business card and chequebook (he didn’t have a driving licence with him) and let him disappear into the sunset. As I was off out that evening, he couldn’t bring it back until the next day.
But sure enough, the next afternoon, he turned up with the camera and a bottle of wine as a thank-you. I had done a good deed and my faith in human nature was reconfirmed.
I could have said no. I could have said, “I’ll shoot the wedding and you pay me.” But I don’t think either would have made me feel as good as I did for helping someone – even a competitor – out of a tight spot. I can imagine how I would have felt in his shoes. That’s why I always carry a spare camera!
Steve Holcroft Photography 