Remember the power of photographer? Yeah, well, that spell doesn’t work on everybody.

Today, I had three interviews lined up. The first two were Finnish CEOs, pretty heavy weight executives of Kemira and Outokumpu.

With the first one, the setup was that I would interview him first, and the photographer would show up a half an hour later, and then we’d go straight to the other interview where the photographer would snap his shots first and then disappear.

“Got stuff to do, places to go to,” he said. “Besides, it only takes me five minutes to take the photos.”

Fair enough.

I interviewed the Kemira CEO, and then the photographer shows up, takes the guy up a flight a stairs, and lets his Canon roll. 20-30 shots, three minutes, done. “Gotta run”.

Next stop: Outokumpu. The CEO comes down to greet us, the photographer guides him up a flight of stairs, makes him laugh a bit, while the Canon’s making magic. “Thanks, that was perfect, gotta run”.

We agree to meet at the Microsoft office a couple of hours later, for the third and last gig of the day. And I stay to talk about the recruitment strategy of the company.

I’m there first, and I wait for the photographer in the lobby, together with the interview person. The photographer shows up, a couple of minutes late so he’s half-running.

And then he sees her. And he’s not in a hurry anymore.

“Oh, am I pleased to see you,” he says to the young lady in her late twenties, “this is going to be fun … let’s go outside where the light is really nice this time of day.”

We all go outside where they have a nice patio and a view overlooking the Nokia HQ.

“Why don’t you stand over there, where that plant is so we get a nice Mediterranean feel to the shot, with your beautiful dark eyes, and perfect tan,” he says.

With the Kemira and Outokumpu CEOs he just stood there and took the photos. Here he makes the interview person take different poses, he’s on his knees, he’s jumping up and down, he’s cracking jokes “to make her at ease.”

Click, click, clickity, click, and he’s all Austin Powers.

Five minutes later, it’s time for the interview.

We walk through the corridor to a casual meeting area with a couch, chairs and a table. She sits on one of the chairs, I plant myself on the couch, and turn on the tape recorder.

The photographer’s sitting next to me, listening in. Not in a hurry.

I finish the interview 20 minutes later, and get ready to leave. The photographer’s not really ready to go, so he makes a couple of questions of his own. Then he tells her he wanted to be a rock star.

Ten minutes later, I get up. I have another meeting to go to.

She walks us back to the main entrance, and I thank her for the interview.

The photographer takes her hand, smiles, and says: “It’s been a real pleasure, truly, sincerely.”

And then he kisses her hand.

I glance over his shoulder and see the receptionist look at us. She rolls her eyes.

I tell the photographer that I gotta run. “Got stuff to do.”