Before accepting my current job, I was handed the job description. Reading through my objectives and tasks, I reached an odd phrase at the end: “..and other duties as assigned.” Jokingly, I asked my fellow colleague about what that entails and he laughed saying, “Welcome to the job!” In this blog series, I will describe to you some of the weirdest tasks I was assigned to in, “Other Duties As Assigned”
I had the opportunity to be the event photographer for our alumni weekend at our university that I work at. We were celebrating the 50th reunion of the class of 1968.
One of the things in particular that I was assigned to do was to take a class photo of the class of 1968, It was the biggest class that has ever attended in the span of five years of our alumni weekends.
One of the things I had in mind was I wanted to make sure I got their clock that they fundraised enough money for it to be put on campus in dedication to one of their fellow classmates who passed away.
So, I was thinking, “How do I get to the clock? How do I get everyone in the shot?” At the end of the class’s lunch they all came outside towards the clock and I said, “Okay, here’s what we’re
going to do…stand in front of the clock, and I’ll think of something.”
As the class of 1968 was lining up, I remember there was a bench far enough to hopefully get the shot, but would elevate me enough to get the entire class in.
I first stood on the part of the bench you sat, no luck. Flipped my camera to live-view and held my hands up, still not enough. I knew I had to go higher. The only way to go higher was the back-rest.
I went for it. My vice-president luckily was there to initially help me up without falling, but my balance was lacking. I had two colleagues support my left and right leg. An alumna’s husband from the class of ’68 took initiative to hold the back of my belt to prevent me from falling backwards. The ladies of the class were laughing and hopefully scared for my safety when I was attempting to get the shot.
Overall, I knew it was crazy, some classmates you could not see their faces, but it turned out to be a nice photo to commemorate the weekend.
Next time, I’m getting a drone. No exceptions.