Field Notes / Project Two
A focused project built around practical decisions and constraints. The aim was to make the booking process for aerial shoots predictable, even when weather windows are short and client timelines shift.
For the first two years, bookings were handled through email threads and a shared spreadsheet. It worked until it didn't. The problems were familiar: double-booked mornings during the Cape's calm autumn window, clients unsure whether a deposit had landed, and no clear record of which flights needed re-shoots because of cloud cover or wind.
The breaking point came in March, when three commercial shoots overlapped with a long-planned coastal series. Two clients were told the same slot was available. That was the moment to build something that treated each booking as a sequence of steps, not a single calendar entry.
The core requirement was simple: every job moves through the same stages, and everyone involved can see where it stands. A booking starts with a scouting request, moves to a flight plan with weather contingencies, then to the shoot itself, and finally to the editing queue in Capture One. If a flight gets cancelled, the system should automatically suggest the next viable slot based on tide tables and wind forecasts, not leave the client waiting for a manual reply.
The real constraint was that I'm not a developer. So the solution had to be built with tools that a photographer can actually maintain between shoots. That meant a structured spreadsheet as the backbone, a simple form for client requests, and automated email rules that keep everyone informed without requiring daily attention.
The workflow now starts with a single intake form that captures the essentials: location, intended use of the images, preferred dates, and whether the client needs a specific time of day for light. That form feeds directly into a master tracker where each project gets a status colour. Green means confirmed, amber means waiting on permits or weather, red means a slot needs to be rebooked.
The most useful addition was a pre-flight checklist that gets attached to every confirmed booking. It includes airspace clearance for the specific coordinates, a backup location within twenty kilometres, and a note on the lens and camera settings planned for the expected light. This sounds obvious, but when you're packing at 5 a.m., having that list already written saves real time and prevents mistakes.
The editing handoff was the other piece that needed structure. Each shoot folder now contains a text file with the client's stated preferences, the colour profile used, and which frames were selected for the first pass. This means the post-production phase starts with context, not with me trying to remember what a client said three weeks earlier.
This system doesn't replace judgment. It can't tell you that the light will be flat at noon or that a client's brief has drifted from what was agreed. What it does is remove the administrative noise, so the decisions that actually matter get made with a clear head. The tracker is a tool, not a manager.
If you're working through a similar scheduling problem, the same logic applies whether you shoot from the air or the ground. Start with the stages every job passes through, then build the simplest system that tracks them.