I often hear from others who craft signs or other projects that they don't have good photographs of their work. Often the pictures they do take are not very good because the sun was at the wrong place or there was a vehicle parked in the way or some such thing. Time passes and they never do manage to get a good picture. It happens to the best of us.
I've learned to never pass up the opportunity to get pictures of our work. With the four blogs I write plus the many magazine articles I author, good pictures of our work in all stages are constantly needed. Thankfully the point and shoot digital cameras have gotten so much better and affordable which makes it so much easier these days. Where I used to have to remember to bring my bulky and extremely expensive SLR camera everywhere, now I keep a tiny digital camera strapped to my belt in a little bullet proof pouch. I have no excuse to not get a good picture of our work, or to document it's progress.
In the shop I have built stands and tables with wheels so I can work on the projects in the best possible light and them move them to photograph them in appropriate lighting conditions best suited for that purpose. Out on the worksites I have learned to watch the light and then shoot my pictures at the perfect time of day.
But sometimes things don't work out as planned and pictures are missed. Occasionally the final picture has to wait until the owner does the landscaping or until we can get rid of background clutter. Then I must purposely take the time to return and get the shots I need.
Yesterday I had an appointment for a meeting that I knew would take me past a sign we had installed last year. I had neglected to get the final pictures because the owner had landscaped some time after the installation and the sign wasn't in my normal tavel routes. I added a few minutes to my scheduled travel time and grabbed that missing shot at last.
The shot still isn't perfect as the sky was overcast and the spring flowers were yet to appear. It will have to do until I get back that way later in the growing season.
-grampa dan