“This story is about a ghost photo I personally saw…”
A is an experienced editor at a women’s fashion magazine. When I meet her, she’s wearing a sophisticated designer dress, yet it’s her congenial smile that leaves the biggest impression.
“For a fashion shoot, we typically reserve a studio for a couple of days and then take all the photos at once. The tight timeline makes for a very busy schedule, especially when we’re working with models.”
A lot of people have to be on-site. Not just the editor, but the models, their mangers, makeup artists, stylists, brand PR representatives, sales staff, writers, photographers, and all their assistants.
The editor has to manage the photo shoot, ensuring it still aligns with their vision as they take into account the other parties’ varying opinions, all while keeping the process on schedule. They never have a moment’s rest.
“Ambiance is essential. I always try to create a positive atmosphere that keeps everyone in good spirits.”
According to A, each person on the staff has a certain vibe, and it plays a role just as crucial as their professional skill set.
“If the photographer and makeup team jell, then anyone coming to a shoot for the first time can just relax and trust us to do our thing. B is still young for a photographer, but he excels at keeping models engaged, and I can always count on him to do a good job.”
Six months ago, B came to the editorial department at A’s magazine looking for work, and it wasn’t long before he became a regular member of A’s team.
“The cover shot alone requires hundreds of photos. We check every little detail of each pose. The more famous photographers sometimes don’t respond well to detailed requests, so I prefer to hire younger, more flexible photographers who listen to me when I have a certain composition in mind, and B is perfect for situations like that.”
After spending more than a week in the studio taking photos, A looks through them all and chooses which ones to use in the magazine. Even after the photographer removes the obviously unusable pictures from the mass of data, there are still several hundred delivered to the editor.
“We sift through the sea of pictures and narrow it down to a couple of patterns. We tell the photographer which pictures we want, then they retouch the images, adjust the brightness, and so on. Only after they’ve delivered the final photos is their work considered to be done. The editors, of course, are making drafts, ordering designs, and checking copy from our writers, so there’s a lot happening all at once.”
One day, A couldn’t decide on which image to use for a cover.
“B had taken them. I really liked a certain pose, but all of the ten or so photos he’d delivered with that pose were just the tiniest bit off. In every shot, a little strand of hair was covering the earrings our client had lent us for the ad, and sales said we couldn’t use any of them.”
Unwilling to give up just yet, A continued comparing the files.
“All the pictures from B had file names like IMG-0001. And as I looked through the thumbnails, I noticed he hadn’t delivered everything.”
For example, if the pictures A liked were labeled IMG-0010 through IMG-0020, that would equate to the tenth through the twentieth shot from the photo shoot. The file names were sequential, starting with IMG-0010, then IMG-0011, then IMG-0012, and so on. So if a bundle didn’t include IMG-0013, for example, then B must not have delivered that file.
“IMG-0053 was missing. If B hadn’t delivered it, it meant there must have been some mistake with the shot, or it looked so bad that even retouching wouldn’t help. But I really liked that pose and wanted to find a way to make it work.”
A contacted the photographer and implored him to send the undelivered picture, even if it wasn’t that good. She wanted to see it at least once, no matter how unusable it was.
As expected, he told her the picture hadn’t turned out and she wouldn’t be able to use it. Still, he found it hard to refuse a request from the editor, especially since she had so much more experience than he did. So B begrudgingly agreed to send the picture.
The image was completely black.
“I thought maybe he’d forgotten to take the lens cap off. Obviously, we couldn’t use it for the cover, so I wound up having to choose a different image with a different pose.”
A few months later, a new problem arose.
“We were running a special feature on accessories, and a famous overseas brand had to pull their necklaces because their country issued a sudden mandate.”
The deadline was looming, and A needed to fill in the holes on the relevant pages.
“As usual, I’d hired B to take the photos. So I called him up immediately and asked him to send me all the data he had, even if it wasn’t usable.”
Sensing her urgency, B sent her everything.
“Once again, IMG-0053 was black. At the time, I was rushing to put together the photos for the magazine, so I didn’t have any time to think about it. But in the back of my mind, I remembered the file name and the black image.”
Some days later, A was at a post-shoot party for a different project that also involved B, when she suddenly thought of the photo.
“I asked him if both photos were really mistakes like he’d said. Some photographers take good-luck shots before a photo shoot, so I thought maybe it was something like that.”
B chuckled, clearly a little tipsy.
“My fifty-third photo always turns out like that. I think I might be cursed.”
Freed from workplace formalities, A and those sitting nearby turned giddy with curiosity.
They pressed B for details about the curse, and unable to refuse, he began to explain.
In the early stages of his career as a photographer, before he started mainly working for fashion magazines, B took whatever odd jobs he could to get by.
One of those projects entailed a photo shoot for a regional travel magazine.