One Dozen Dented Dreams
Working as a photographer sometimes throws up strange job opportunities, there are many niche markets. One of those is photographing crashed cars for insurance companies. Essentially, an agency pays me to visit a client who has had an accident to photographs the damage. Sometimes it's trivial, a few faint scratches or minor scuffs, occasionally it is a complete write off, one recent job consisted of photographing the wreckage that remained after the fire service had cut it apart, the guy walked away with just a bruised shoulder, a day he should have bought himself a lottery ticket. Occasionally it is obvious that the job is an insurance fraud investigation, usually seeing how minimal the damage actually is when someone is claiming a whiplash injury.
The clients vary, some impassive, some talkative, some borderline aggressive, believing that I am some kind of insurance assessor or hold some sway with the company, gabbling out their story repeatedly as if I can note it down and pass it on to mitigate their circumstances. Some ruefully accept their blame, usually a moment of madness or a temporary disconnect between hand and brain, a guy who lay across both front seats of his car while he fixed some wiring problem had turned the handbrake off to make the job more comfortable then turned the ignition on to see if his work had been successful. The subsequent damage when the vehicle hit a wall ten metres ahead of him rendering his repairs irrelevant.
One thing they all have is a story, every client tells you some little detail, a small crumb of their life, almost without exception the damage to their car is like damage to themselves, a flaw in their mechanical other. The nature of the job is that reflections sometimes occur, often of the photographer or the tripod, sometimes of the client watching, sometimes of the environment in which it was shot, I have included these deliberately to give a sense of identity and belonging to otherwise cold pieces of machinery. Whatever they may be now, these were someones dream car once.
The clients vary, some impassive, some talkative, some borderline aggressive, believing that I am some kind of insurance assessor or hold some sway with the company, gabbling out their story repeatedly as if I can note it down and pass it on to mitigate their circumstances. Some ruefully accept their blame, usually a moment of madness or a temporary disconnect between hand and brain, a guy who lay across both front seats of his car while he fixed some wiring problem had turned the handbrake off to make the job more comfortable then turned the ignition on to see if his work had been successful. The subsequent damage when the vehicle hit a wall ten metres ahead of him rendering his repairs irrelevant.
One thing they all have is a story, every client tells you some little detail, a small crumb of their life, almost without exception the damage to their car is like damage to themselves, a flaw in their mechanical other. The nature of the job is that reflections sometimes occur, often of the photographer or the tripod, sometimes of the client watching, sometimes of the environment in which it was shot, I have included these deliberately to give a sense of identity and belonging to otherwise cold pieces of machinery. Whatever they may be now, these were someones dream car once.
Footnote:
Completed a job yesterday, the client had managed to clip a car behind him whilst reversing into a parking spot in his workplace. They exchanged details. The other persons insurance company was claiming for a whiplash injury and a broken arm, apparently the arm used to write out the contact details. The damage to the clients car was a scuff mark roughly the size of one penny piece, the incident was recorded on CCTV. My insurance renewal has just arrived, I'm wondering how much it actually should be.
Completed a job yesterday, the client had managed to clip a car behind him whilst reversing into a parking spot in his workplace. They exchanged details. The other persons insurance company was claiming for a whiplash injury and a broken arm, apparently the arm used to write out the contact details. The damage to the clients car was a scuff mark roughly the size of one penny piece, the incident was recorded on CCTV. My insurance renewal has just arrived, I'm wondering how much it actually should be.