Insane Ramblings of a Rogue Master Photographer

The Lesson I Learned at the Framers Today

2011-06-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

I recently an incredible honour that included a nice certificate and medal, something that I will always treasure. So I decided to get framed and took it to the wholesale framer I had been using for about 30 years. I showed them the certificate and medal and a photo of the kind of frame/matting I had in mind.

I was handed some mat samples and that was it. No advice, no help, no nothing. I was clearly in over my head. Double mats, shadow boxes, double opening were just not something I was able to figure out myself.

So I packed up my stuff and drove to the framer my mother has been using for 25+ years. I was willing to pay full price for professional advice. I got here and went through the same routine of showing them my stuff and my "can you do something like this" photo.

Well she started studying everything, matching colours, matching styles and textures. It was a delight watching her work. Out of the thousands of frame samples they had, she walked over and picked the one that was the same colour and edging as my medal.

As you can imagine I ended up paying much more than I had estimated it would cost me at the wholesaler... about three or four times more. But it was so worth it to get an end product that I knew I would love.

This frame will be on my wall for years and will be on display at my funeral when the time comes.

This is all making me rethink my selection of frames in our studio. Offering inexpensive frames to your clients may not be doing them a favour after all.

Vistek

2011-06-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

For the first time today I went into Vistek (Ottawa) nice. Service was great, nice big bright store and they had what I wanted. Henry's, my regular place to go when I need something local, didn't have what I wanted but tried to sell me something "that would probably work just as well".

Glad I went into Vistek today, saved $3 too.

Photography's "False prophets"

2011-05-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

"False prophets" a cautionary warning in most religions, but professional photographers need to be warned too. Studio Marketing "Experts" claiming they have the secret, "a new system" you can buy. Beware the fakes, or those selling outdated ideas.

I am so tired of the hypocrisy, and the contradictory information. Praying on photographers during this down economy. I see it too often.

Nuff said.

Storage of clients files? Forget it.

2011-04-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that computers are too unstable for me to promise storing clients digital files for a year, 5 years or forever.

You do your back ups, but I figure computers, hard drives, CD's are not made to last. It would be irresponsible to make a promise I may not be able to keep.

Sure I could do multiple copies, and store another copy off premise in the case of fire or lightening strikes etc.

What if I had a stroke and forgot the passwords?

What if in the future jpgs, RAW, psd files went the way of 8 Tracks, or Batamax?

Nope, too many things to go wrong.

Currently rejected RAW files are deleted as soon as the order is delivered. If they order pose #4, #17 and #33... all other files are deleted. Everything (RAW, Jpgs and psd files) from #4, #17 and #33 are stored for a short period, but nothing is promised.

If they want to buy an 8x10 for Aunt Lucy, they better buy it now.

Is this the death of the pro lab?

2011-04-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

I was stunned when I heard that Art Leather had shut down. The world's most successful wedding album company. Times are changing I guess, and the desire to have a quality leather wedding album had dropped to the point they had to close.

Are the pro labs soon to follow? The pro labs used to provide quality you could only get from a pro lab. Now the one hour lab down the street offers comparable quality for less, and in an hour, and without the $10-12 shipping fees. No more lost orders, 2 week delays, or ordered that get shipped to the wrong studio.

And how many people are getting prints made anyway, many photographers are just selling the CD. The images get emailed, put on Facebook, or just viewed on a computer.

Unless the pro labs can offer something you can't get down the street they may be doomed.

I suggested to one lab maybe they should start offering Fine Art quality photos on luxury papers, but I got no response.

Time will tell.

What do car repairs have to do with marketing photography?

2011-04-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

This week I brought my car in for $1214 worth of repair work to the local Canadian Tire.While waiting for the shuttle to take me home, I noticed the waiting room had no free coffee, no free donuts and a few other things I enjoyed when I had taken my car to the dealer. There would also be no free car wash after the repairs were done.

Fine with me I thought, I knew CT would do an excellent job and save me $100's over the price the dealer would charge. It was a conscious decision I had made to give up a few perks to save money.

On the drive home I had to wonder if during this down economy if people would prefer a cheaper studio over a premium studio (given that the quality was the same) and forgo the fancy glitz and packageing to save money. Really goes against all the guru's claims that a high end boutique studio is the only way to go.

But as small business owners that's our strength right? To be flexible, read the market and adapt.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."Charles Darwin

Digital Only Studio?

2011-03-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

I have been so frustrated with the slow service of the "pro labs" that I am seriously thinking of going digital only, no prints. On my next eNewsletter I will be asking my clients there thoughts on this.

Generic means Cheap

2011-03-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

I was watching a business show this morning, she was consulting to a struggling martini bar. At one point she said something like "Generic means Cheap". It wasn't until they started doing things that made them stand out from all the other bars that they started making money.

I thought what a great lesson for photographers. If you are "Generic" is in the same as all the other photographers out there, then you will have to be the cheapest to survive. None of us want that.

Same old lesson, you need to be unique to survive.

Apple Boxes

2011-03-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've used Apple Boxes for years when I needed to make someone a little taller in a group shot. I have even used one to help me change a light bulb in the studio.

I was watching a DVD and the photographer stands on one to get a higher shooting angle. So simple I thought and on the last half of my last business portrait shoot I stood on an Apple Box and got a few high angle shots.... guess which ones they chose?

Boring = No Sale

2011-03-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

We took Judy out for her birthday last night to a fancy restaurant. The food was perfect, very interesting menu items. Creative and unique.

But when it came to dessert, and we all wanted some, the dessert menu was boring, nothing creative or exiting. Nothing you just had to try.

Although we all wanted dessert, no one ordered any.

Must be a lesson in there somewhere for us photographers.

The 810863

2010-07-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a secure way to attach my Norman 400B flash's battery pack to a light-stand for outdoor portraits. I tried to make a few things but nothing worked well, and the huge cluncky thing would swing and sway and annoy me whenever I moved the stand. But I figured having it attached low on a light-stand would keep it from blowing over on a windy day.

So I finally figured I would bite the bullet and pay the US$78 for the Norman 810863 Quick Release Stand Mount Plate. Crazy overpriced I thought, well it works perfect and was worth every cent.

My only problem, there were no instructions on how to attach it. I guess it was designed to accommodate several types of battery packs, lots of holes, lots of "extra" screws.
I had to call Norman to see if I had installed it right, I had it upside down... duh.

Are we "poor"?

2010-07-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I was doing what is sometimes referred to as a "Go See". Checking someones home/yard for lighting, space etc. a week before their home portrait. I noticed lots of portraits around the house, then a series of 16x20's and 20x24's. I looked at the signature and recognized the photographer. I commented on the nice portraits, the lady told me the name of the photographer (I knew the name well, good photographer who closed his doors). She said "He was a good photographer, but he's not in business anymore. I guess he was (voice trailing off) tired of being poor.

Yikes, I thought. Is this her impression of photographers, or everyones opinion?
Probably not far off from the truth now a days.

I'm lost for words...

2010-05-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

OH God, meet your competition, another "professional photographer" out there doing portraits.

Saw this on a professional photographers forum (her spelling, I just cut and pasted) ...

Hey fellow phottogs who know WAY more than me!! I got a question..........I'm getting ready to do a family shoot, and I'm gonna use a 50 mm 1.8 and I'm going to need to get a CRYSTAL CLEAR 20 x 24 out of it what AP should I use?? Yes, I know this is a dumb question to most but I'm a "newby" in the biz and want to make ...sure this portrait is as clear as possible!! ANY and ALL info IS GREATLY appreciated!! Thank YOU!!!!!!

Noisy Babies

2010-03-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

Well it's March and the studio is very quiet this week, so I rounded up a bunch of babies and decided to update my baby samples and style. Truth is that it is very hard to compete with Wal-Marts $5 baby packages if you are doing regular baby photography. I seldom do baby photos so I reasoned that it would not hurt sales any to totally change my style to something more unique.

I'm not going into specifics but I wanted to pass this along. Using a soft focus lens on an old Nikon D100 and lighting by only the modelling light of my studio flash I had to bump my iso to 1250. I only did a few shots (50?) I was expecting disastrous results because of the abundance of noise. Everyone says we pros need to shoot with the lowest iso possible to ensure quality.

I was very impressed with the results I got at 1250iso.

What Mortgage Brokers Taught Me

2010-03-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to photograph five mortgage brokers from the same office. They were updating their cards and websites and needed new photos.

All were photographed individually over a couple of days. It was interesting talking to them, they all liked working together and enjoyed their jobs.

When I asked about their clients they all had very different answers. One told me most of his clients were single women, another told me their clients were mostly young families, another said young couples etc.

It was interesting, all five mortgage brokers selling the same thing and at the same price in the same office had totally different clients. None of them were competing against each other, no wonder they all got along.

Checking Your Focus

2010-03-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well that was easy. I was talking to a support tech, questioning the focus of a manual focus lens I was using. She reminded me that everything is auto-focus now and nobody ever checks the diopter adjustment on their viewfinders anymore.

She gave me a simple way to make sure it was set properly for my eyes. Just look through the camera, make sure the meter is on. Slide the diopter adjustment so that the meter reading in the viewfinder is blurry, then slide it back until it is crystal sharp. Worked great, yup it had been a little off.

And what manual focus lens was I using? Sorry a top secret that only world famous master photographers know about.

How much should my "assistants" pay me?

2010-03-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

I got a phone call from another wanna-be professional photographer today. She sounded nice enough and offered to be my "assistant" on weddings for free. She got herself a new camera and now wants to be a professional wedding photographer and I guess she figured if she assisted me on a couple of weddings she would learn the finer points of posing, lighting etc. enough to do weddings herself.

I told her I had an assistant and really didn't need another, and that was that. Let's face it an assistant who doesn't know me, my style, my needs or weddings would be of no use to me.

Meanwhile I had a support tech on hold, when I returned to him I gave a little rant about already having a half million competitors out there and I had no intension of training another. He simply said, why don't you charge her? Well the simplicity of his answer caught me a little off guard and I thought why not?

So the big question is, how much? Yup, am additional income stream. Maybe I could get wanna-be photographers to pay me $250? - $300? to follow me (or you) around on a wedding day.

Stupid Nikon!!!

2010-02-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

I was watching an instructional video and the photographer had on the coolest thing, a Nikon Hand Strap AH-4.

Genuine black leather (Cool), said Nikon on it (Cool) and appeared to give a secure, stable, one handed operation (also Cool). But in all honesty it was the look and feel of being in a Clint Eastwood western that sold me.

So I spent the US$79 (truth is CAN$59 on eBay) and it arrived yesterday and was everything I hoped for.

One problem, my hands are large and this Nikon Hand Strap AH-4 barely fit. It's OK when I reposition it and readjust it but if Nikon would have spent 1 more cent and made the strap 1/2" longer it would be a million times better. Stupid Nikon.

What can I say besides "Do you feel lucky punk? well do ya?"

Male Photographers, are we Doomed?

2010-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

I had coffee with a couple of female photographers the other day. Both telling me how great business is, it keeps them and their employee(s) very busy but they will have to hire on an additional employee to deal with the summer wedding rush.

Their work is OK, prices are not cheap, nor outrageous.

When I talk to my male photographer friends, most say wedding bookings are crap or none at all. This includes me.

Just wondering. With this influx of female photographers over the last few years, and the fact that 80%+ of our customers are female......

Having a wife and two daughters I know that women feel much more comfortable dealing with other women and that women are much more supportive of other women and businesses run by women. In fact all three switched from our long time friend and family doctor to women doctors.

Of course having people like Oprah constantly telling women that all men are potential rapists, evil, wife beaters etc. doesn't help.

I've noticed over the years that usually Jewish clients usually prefer to deal with Jewish photographers, Greek with Greek, Italian with Italian, Chinese with Chinese, etc. You only need to view other photographers websites to see this is true by looking at the sample photos. Hey I understand, similar language, customs, and expectations.

I have received several calls lately from Asians (both from India and China) who were amazed I didn't have a supply of wedding dresses and traditional Asian clothes to wear for their portraits. Maybe in Asia photographers supply clothes to wear for studio weddings. I guess they will phone around and find a local Asian photographer who understands this and know how to deal with it.

I'm just wondering if it might be wise to hire a female photographer for weddings, they can deal with the clients, set up groups and you guys can just set up the camera and push the button. Might work.

Selling Digital Files?

2010-01-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

With 30 years in this business full time, and I guess being an old fart, I dread the thought of selling digital files. But to survive 30 years in any business you have to look for trends.

Here is what I see. After 48 years Conde Nast closes Gourmet Magazine and 3 other upscale "paper" magazines. Canwest (Canada's largest newspaper publisher with 37) has filed for bankruptcy protection. Some of the US major newspapers are running into financial difficulties now that people prefer getting news on-line.

iTunes, and their multi billion dollar sales of music files. No need to buy CD's anymore (yes, CD sales are way down). They have also added down-loadable movies and TV shows you can watch on your computer, TV, iPod.

Huge sales in downloadable eBooks and Audiobooks, no need to buy a real book anymore. The Sony Reader Digital Book, or Amazon's Kindle made to hold over 1500 downloadable digital books. No need to buy bookshelves anymore.

So for me the thought of selling digital files is scary based on years of hearing "Never sell your negatives". But the fact is everything is going digital, people want to buy files, more convenient? for safe storage?, for sharing? and it's a multi billion dollar industry you can take part in or not.

And No. At this point I don't offer them for sale but I think soon they will be added to my product mix, maybe I'll add preloaded Digital Photo Frames.

I am haunted by the lyrics of Bob Dylan "You'd better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a chang'n".

Breaking News... There is no resession!

2009-06-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

The recession in the USA must be a total hoax. American businesses must be doing very very well.

This is based on the fact that I recently called three companies that have huge ads in Photoshop User Magazine (one had a two page ad) and 2 companies didn't answer their phone after it rang for over a minute. The third company put me on hold so long I just hung up. Nice to see they are sooo busy that they can ignore the most basic rule of customer service, answer the phone before the 3rd ring.

Then I tried to order some custom printed Gift Cards from Marathon Press, had my Visa card in hand. BUT unlike every on-line ordering system in the world, you can't open and account and just log on, place your order and pay them. You have to phone them, tell them you want to order on-line, they will give you your user ID and Password "within 24-48 hours". Obviously in no hurry to get my order or my money. Nor do they accept PayPal, the world's largest on-line secure payment system.

They did send me my user ID and password and both are unchangeable, the password is so obscure that it is impossible to remember and I have to look it up each time.

Nice to see they are sooo busy that they can ignore the second and third rule of customer service, make it easy for people to deal with you, and make it easy for people to pay you.

CS4 Upgrade

2009-05-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well I finally upgraded to CS4 yesterday and got a great deal $159.20 from Adobe (Thank you NAPP for the discount code). Saved another $20 on shipping because it was a download.

I always forget what a pain "upgrades" are. Yes new features, bugs fixed, faster. BUT I always forget about having to shut down the studio for a few hours while I convert this, install that, try to find my unlock code on the email that arrives 4 hours after my download, call the support line, try to find my English-Hindi Dictionary. OK truth is that both of the support people I talked to did speak reasonable English. But my problem was with installing the "Goodies" download. Goodies are all the features I loved in CS3 that were dropped from CS4.
At one point I was ready to punch the computer screen.
But it's all up and running smoothly now.
Now I just need to get used to the new screen layout, strange new buttons and new menus.

All Inspired

2009-05-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

I was watching a DVD of another photographer doing a studio shoot. I love that stuff. They always seem to drop something small in passing that makes my day, some little tidbit about a technique or sales tip, or a joke I can steal.

Oh sure they talk lighting and posing but I've seen that a million times. Same old - Same old.

But today after watching the newest DVD I got all inspired to simplify my lighting (theirs was not simple). On location I always just bring white umbrellas and I'm always amazed by the lighting they give. I confess I am seldom thrilled by softboxes, yet use them in the studio "because everyone else is doing it". This morning I replaced my 36X48" softbox with a 42" white umbrella (US$16?). And in a small studio like mine, do I even need a fill light? On location in a brides home, executives office or a board room my 42" white umbrella seems to give me great directional light with enough bounce off the ceiling and walls for a perfect fill ratio.

So with this rainy weekend I will do some studio test shots with this new simple lighting.

Artists? Us?

2009-04-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday I was asked to judge the photographic entries at the Orchid Society of Ottawa's show. The photos were grouped in with the oil paintings, watercolors and sculptures of Orchids. The lady judging the sculptures showed me some that she said had taken months to complete. It was the same with the paintings, days or weeks to complete.

Our photographs... 1/125 of a second.

Yes, I realize it is more complex than that. But as I looked at the other "art" I couldn't help but think that we photographers have a lot more to learn if we want to call ourselves "artists".

Idiot in Florida

2009-04-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone from a "new photographer" from Florida. Just started into this business and his wife decided my portrait price list was the best one to copy.
He noticed the pdf file was password protected and asked me to send him the original unprotected pdf file so he "wouldn't have to spend hours retyping my descriptions etc."
He seemed surprised when I said No.

Too lazy to figure out his own prices, too lazy to retype mine. Yup, he's going far in this business.

Students are idiots too

2009-04-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call today from a photography student looking for "a summer... ugh..you know, job.. ugh... employment".

I told him I wasn't hiring, try Photolux.
"Photolux?" he said "Yes, Photolux" I said.
"Ugh.. do you have their phone number?"

Too lazy to look up the number himself I guess. Maybe he should move to Florida.

Wedding Bookings Down?

2009-04-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Many studios are complaining they are not booking enough weddings. The funny thing is that the marketplace is a great judge of the desirability of your product in comparison to the price you are asking.

I am not suggesting that their wedding photography is not good. I am saying that the "marketplace" is not willing to pay what you are asking for what you are offering.

Either make your product more unique, or adjust the quality/price ratio.

Key Rap

2009-04-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

I am almost lost for words. My wife and I, along with our daughters and their boyfriends attended a bridal fair here in Ottawa today. As you would imagine my interest was the other "wedding photographers". Yes, there were a couple of really good ones there like Photolux and Jerome Scullino. But most of the others were displaying sample photos that were nothing short of brutal.

Has "professional wedding photography" come to this I wondered. Photographs that were not even up to good amateur standards, then very poorly printed, flat and off colour.

This has to hurt the whole industry.

What happened?

2009-03-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

I was talking to an old friend yesterday, another great photographer complaining that he has not booked one wedding for this year yet. Seems like all the once great photographers are having a hard time lately... I had to assume the problem is with us. Not the economy, not all the weekend warriors... us. Did we get fat and lazy?

Weren't we the ones that with the cutting edge style? Famous for being Avant-garde?
Is it all our fault... have we become main stream?
The more I look at the struggling once great photographers the more I see boring work.

Guy's advice

2009-03-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check today (yes listening to, an Audio Book in my car) and he discusses having a mantra instead of a mission statement. I like that.
Mission Statements are a joke, something corporations put together with a committee using meaningless feel good Oprahisms, only to be forgotten before the ink is dry.

Mantras, a simple 3 or 4 word phase summing up what the company (studio) is truly about.
Always loved mine "Soft, Warm & Natural".
It started as a description of my photography style and became the way I do business.

Sales Advice

2009-03-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

One of the advantages of doing executive portraits is picking the brains of CEO's, Mayors, and other successful people. Recently I had the opportunity of photographing the region's best known corporate sales trainer.

So I asked him, "If you could give someone the most important piece of sales advice, what would it be?".

He said "Ask a lot of questions, find out exactly what their expectations are".

I thought it was brilliant.

It's Only Windex!

2009-03-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

It was finally warm enough today to take my car to the car wash. It really needed all that salt and winter dirt removed. I decided to just get the cheap exterior wash for $11, not my usual deluxe package for $30. Usually for the first wash of the year I get the $54 package and they shampoo the carpets, but that could wait until the snow was all gone, maybe in a week or two.

The inside of my windows needed to be cleaned so I offered to pay extra to have them use a little Windex. Nope, we don't do that with the Exterior Package the lady said. I offered again to pay extra, again she said No. Then I handed her my "Wash Club" card (10 washes and the 11th is free) and she stamped my 10th circle. It was obvious I was a regular customer, having spent over $300 in car washes. But I guess customer service was not this ladies strong point.

I am considering going to try out their competition, it's amazing how one stupid employee can cost you a regular customer.

Does Size Matter?

2009-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

I have long wanted to change the name of 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 to Small, Medium and Large. That way it would allow me to adjust the actual size to fit the image, for example a Small could be 3X5, 4X5 or 4X6.
I had a thought this morning; maybe instead of Small, Medium and Large it might be trendier to call them Tall, Grande and Venti. It works for Starbucks.

How Long Will Your Digital Files Last?

2009-03-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

I was watching the news CBS show "Sunday Morning" and they had a segment about how audio tapes, videos, and digital files become lost over time.
Some degraded over time, some lost because of the changing technology making it impossible to find software or hardware to play the old (yet still in useable condition) files.

Here are a couple of things that surprised me.

The Library of Congress is scanning and archiving photos in what they have decided is the best and most common format for the longest and safest life, "Tiff".
Yes, Tiff. Not PSD, not Jpeg and not Adobe's DGN.

They also interviewed a digital archive expert who said that the life expectancy of hard drives is five years. He also said the the "low end" life expectancy of CD's and DVD's

is also about five years. The safest CD and DVD storage is in a cool dry place.

He also said that you should expect to recopy everything and resave it in whatever the current best system is at that time, every ten years.

- Makes me wonder if selling the image files might be a way moving the responsibility of archiving to the client.
- Makes me think we should never claim to store these images forever.
- Makes me wonder if we do sell image files that we make the client sign a document relieving us of any long term liability for the stability of the files.
- Makes me wonder if brides who just buy the images on CD will have nothing to show of their wedding by their 5th anniversary.

As always, lots of questions and no answers.

I think I screwed up.

2009-02-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

I was reading about the resurgence of vinyl records, yup making a comeback. Not as you would suspect with the audiophiles but with the 20-30 some-things.

CD’s of course killed the sales of Vinyl, now downloaded MP3’s are killing CD sales… and now vinyl is on the rise. Funny eh?

So I wonder if I screwed up big time selling off all my pro 6x7 film camera equipment on eBay when I decided to go fully digital.

In retrospect, I think if I was still shooting film I would be an apple among the 4 billion oranges out there. A big fish in a very small pond… and that’s what marketing is all about. I’m such an idiot!

Digerati R Us

2009-02-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

Definition of Digerati: People who are knowledgeable about digital technologies such as computer programming and design.

I wonder with our new skill sets if we are now more Digerati than just Photographers.
Maybe I need to update my business card.

Eerie Coincidence?

2009-02-12T04:24:00.000-08:00

With digital technology being the death or at least crippling of so many photo studios is it a coincidence that the letters in DIGITAL CAMERA rearrange to form DIE MAGICAL ART.

www.spencerstudio.com

Bottled Water

2009-02-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

I just saw another article about bottled water, claiming once again that bottled water is no better for you than regular water, but people are spending a billion dollars a year for what they can get for free.

What writers don't realize is that you are not paying for the water, water is available free all over.
But you can't just fill your pockets from your tap and carry it around until you're thirsty.
Nor would many people enjoy drinking from a public water fountain with the gum, spit and backwash.

People are paying for security and portability.

A good lesson for photographers, what are people really paying you for?

www.spencerstudio.com

Still looking for mats

2009-02-10T06:09:00.001-08:00

What's the deal with folders? With all the progress in photography why is it that the only inexpensive option to present our photos in is folders? Basically the same style and colours they have been using since about 1932. Same tacky embossing, same paper stock, many with the same serrated edges my great grandparents photos are in.

For years I have been looking for plain mats, the same ones you would see on every "art print" in any gallery in the world. Simple and cheap, a 5x7 opening in an 8x10 mat, available in white and black. Cheaper to produce than a folder, it would present our photographs as "art".

The folders companies are complaining about poor sales, yet keep trying to sell folders that have been unchanged for decades.

www.spencerstudio.com

My response to Bruce Hudson

2009-02-10T05:21:00.000-08:00

I just received an invitation to a webinar on producing studio newsletters from Bruce Hudson (my buddy of about 20+ years.) and his son Josh.
The Subject line read: Is Business Slow? Try a Newsletter! Let Bruce Show you EXACTLY how to Write one!

I had to respond:
No way Dude!! It should read; Is Business Slow? Try a Newsletter! Let ROBIN Show you EXACTLY how to Write one!
My eNewsletter is way better than yours...

I have Angel our "Official Greeter and Mascot" (OK yes I stole that idea from your "Retouch the Cat")

I have "Squeaky the Duck" our lovable and little goofy guy (OK yes I stole that idea from you, you have Josh)

I have "Photowalks" (OK yes I stole that idea from you, you have the in studio lessons for your clients)
I have "Pet Fest" with donations going to the Humane Society (OK yes I stole that idea from you)

I have "Time to update your Business Portrait" (OK yes I stole that idea from you too)
I also have a Blog "Insane Ramblings of a Rogue Master Photographer" but it hasn't gone live yet.

Jeez, I'm not looking too good here... But my color scheme is different! That's it!... Woo Hoo!!... I am Creative, and not just ripping off Bruce Hudson.
I feel better now.

Ask me... go ahead and ask me if I think I am getting my money's worth from My Monthly Mentor... just ask me.

Robin Spencer
Head of the R and D department
(In my case Rip-Off and Duplicate"

Histograms Smistograms

2009-02-10T05:16:00.000-08:00

I got a call from an older photographer the other day. This guy loves photography and been to every seminar and convention in North America for years. Nice guy.
Always has the latest equipment. But confessed to me that he just can't get this digital thing, histograms.. colour spaces, Photoshop etc.
Just not happy with the results.

Then last night I was talking to a lady photographer, a really good photographer, nicest person you would ever meet.

She tells me she shoots jpeg. I asked her if she was shooting sRGB or Adobe 1998, and what white balance she was shooting.
She had no idea what I was talking about, never heard of sRGB or Adobe 1998, "Auto, white balance I think".
"I'm not good with the tech stuff" she said.
Don't get me wrong, she is a great photographer, "The lab tweaks it for me" she says.

It all just struck me as funny the two extremes dealing with digital. One obsessed with the tech stuff, one just shoots using the camera settings right out of the box.

Sorry to say I identified with the older guy's frustration and was inspired by the lady’s "I'm not good with the tech stuff" attitude.

Love the obvious cliche's: Can't teach an old dog new tricks and womens "not good with the tech stuff". Love it!

Probably explains why my kids point and shoot digital photos always come out looking perfect, with no adjustments, no overrides, no histograms, no Adobe 1998 – sRGB controversy and taken to Costco for printing.