Post-Production: Risk Analysis

I was aware that whenever we initiate a project there is always a risk element attached to it. A good manager is one who learns from his past mistakes so as to minimize such risks when undertaking new ventures.

Against this background, there were hurdles and difficulties I faced when undertaking the project related to "Magazine Development".

First of all, the importance of using the type of camera lens was something I found out the hard way. Though my camera (Nikon 5200) was of good enough quality, its lens had a very low focal length (of only 18mm-55mm) which was not enough for the kind of photograph I needed to take. I did some research, talked to some experts in the field and then took a certain degree of risk by investing in a new lens with a wide range of focal length (18mm-270mm). Obviously my parents deserve a mention here as without their confidence in my professional abilities) and the financial support they rendered, such an investment would not have been possible. Luckily my judgement proved correct and I got the desired results with my new lens.

The other hurdle I faced was the reaction I generally got from the people I was trying to take pictures of. At first I had difficulty in conveying to them the reasons for taking their snaps. At one point I was also afraid that their lack of understanding and education could result in some kind of back clash from them which could damage to my equipment. I realized then, the difficulties and risks media journalists must be facing when covering stories at community and individual levels.

Other than that, I found some people to be over sensitive to them being filmed on camera. They were apprehensive that exposing their identity in media could create problems for them within their family setups (maybe because of the social taboos attached to it, especially for the women folk). .

When dealing with public at community level, I was concerned about my safety and kept an exit road accessible behind me just in case I needed to make a quick exit. Another problem I faced was the risk of thieves stealing my equipment. I had to ensure that my equipment was never left lying around, else it could have gotten stolen.

Weather was another problem when it came down to taking photographs. At one point, it suddenly started raining on me. I had to take immediate cover to protect my equipment or else it could have got damaged.

Another problem associated to the city I live in (Lahore) was smog. There are days when we could not take photographs due to extreme smog conditions. Which meant very low visibility. It was at times impossible for me to travel to distant places in such conditions. I later found out that Lahore is one of the most polluted cities in the world (as seen in the Air Quality Index table). Below is a clip I captured of the smog few days before the shoot.

Load Shedding is also one of the major problems in my area. I do my work on a pc which does not have a battery or power backup. Number of times while designing my magazine, there was unscheduled power breakdown resulting in deletion of any unsaved work. We all know how frustrating that can be.