Harboring any illusions of being a photojournalist and getting your chance to photograph some of the biggest celebrities? Better be quick about it.

A photographer from The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland was assigned to photograph Beyonce at a local concert. His window of opportunity? Fifty seconds. Check out this classic quote:

“Beyoncé gave us officially 50 seconds, and that’s all it was,” Shaw said. “She came up in a cloud of mist, and the first 30 seconds she was just standing there. She was silhouetted by backlight, stood still, turned around, and started to sing. She sang like two notes and then a stage hand got up in front of me and said, OK, that’s it. That’s the best shot you’re going to get.’”

Yikes. At the few concerts I’ve photographed, we’ve always had at least a few songs to snap off our shots. That’s ridiculous.

Check out the full column. (Plain Dealer)

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