Daniel Grabowski: in San Diego, CA

Northern Power Products is a locally owned industrial engines company. They put together diesel, gas and natural gas engines for anything from sweepers to harvesting tractors. With a small staff of around 40 employees we are a close group. My job works directly with the President of the company. In my role, here at NPPI I work on marketing materials such as brochures, logos, websites, social media and other miscellaneous tasks.

For Morrie’s, working as their photographer for their new and used vehicles was both fun and important to the online business. Most of them were vehicles purchased through auction or had come in through trade. About 35 or more photos were taken for each vehicle, with 10-20 vehicles being photographed a day. They were then uploaded online and I made sure the make and model information of each vehicle was updated. Other miscellaneous tasks include: helping detail cars and lot management to get cars lined up properly.

Photographs were taken of boots, shoes, coats, shirts, purses and many more clothing and accessory items. They were uploaded to eBay through Adobe Lightroom. About 120 items were photographed in a day, with an average of about 8 photos for each item being taken. It was a fast-paced work environment.

As a sales consultant, I sold cameras and camera accessories to customers. Cameras were the main focus with lenses and accessories being add-ons. Other things that were sold in the digital imaging section were gaming systems and DVD’s/cd’s. Protection plans and credit cards were also a point of emphasis during the checkout process.

Being one of the main photographers was important to me and to this business. I met with clients for 10-15 minutes before a photo shoot to get to know the guest and make them feel comfortable before the session even started. Posing and controlling all the technical aspects of the lighting and camera was my main role once the photo shoot began. After the shoot, it was part of the session to edit and make a slideshow of all the images for the sales person to present and sell later that same day. The process I went through took anywhere from 1-2 hours.

Photographing babies, seniors, family sessions and many other clients was the best part of this job. Handling all the poses, technical aspects of the photography and being responsible for the overall feeling in the session were good qualities needed by the photographers. I felt I was able to do just that. I was the main photographer here and would open and close the studio on many occasions. Sales and customer service were key to this position as well. It was the third busiest studio in the country, with an average of 100 sessions in one day during the holiday seasons. At one point, we did 120 on one particular Saturday.

Unloaded trailers of merchandise and loaded them onto pallets by order of department. After bringing the pallets into the store the shelves were then stocked. Helping customers after the store opened was sometimes needed. Cashiering was another part of the position. Electronics sales associate was a position that was by itself within the store. The sales floor had sections that were covered by multiple people, with electronics being one that was controlled by one person. It was a position that took a lot of responsibility and knowledge of the products. The position was specifically for a few people and it was a fun part of the store that I enjoyed working in.