Film photography, a good business in the future ?

[ImSoNegative]

Thats a really great portrait of Mr. Jobs

[Marko]

Jobs didn’t look immediately at Watson, but looked instead at the set-up and then focused on Watson’s 4×5 camera “like it was something dinosauric,” Watson recalls, “and he said, ‘Wow, you’re shooting film.”

“I said, ‘I don’t feel like digital is quite here yet.’ And he said, ‘I agree,’ then he turned and looked at me and said, ‘But we’ll get there.’”

Indeed.

Steve made "getting there" and doing it in style his trademark. That kind of vision and focus is what really makes a difference.

We need more people like him and fewer opportunists for whom the only difference between selling film, computers and potatoes exists in the profit margin.

[Mark Barendt]

http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/photobooth.php

[Mike Anderson]

http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/photobooth.php

Exactly. The portraits look good (from what I can see on the web) and product is distinctive enough to stand out from the more common offerings. Easier to get press and get noticed.

...Mike

[GPS]

http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/photobooth.php

Except that - there is no film to make a good business from...

[Mark Barendt]

Except that - there is no film to make a good business from...

There is a "film" of emulsion on the metal.

[darr]

This is a novelty item that will not appeal to the masses. Is it a good stand-alone product in a business model? That is the question.

[Mark Barendt]

On a more serious note, the idea of doing one off "originals" is a fun idea that Tintypes are a natural at.

[Mike Anderson]

This is a novelty item that will not appeal to the masses. Is it a good stand-alone product in a business model? That is the question.

True, it's a niche market. To niche or not to niche? Well it's a new business in an ideal environment I think (SF's Mission District is hipster central and no longer cheap) so we have a nice canary in the coal mine to watch. I'm going to check it out next time I'm in SF.

...Mike

[Mark Barendt]

This is a novelty item that will not appeal to the masses. Is it a good stand-alone product in a business model? That is the question.

Nothing wrong with novelty or niches.

Many years ago my wife and I had one of the "old west outlaw & barmaid" shots done, still hangs in an important spot.

The shop that did/does these is still there after 23+ years and was there well before we had ours done.

The only differences between the cheap 8x10 we bought back then and a fancy tintype; are the markets they get sold to and the price.

As sophisticated as one might believe people are, they still enjoy tacky novelty cliche anachronistic nostalgic stuff.

The biggest local tourist attraction is narrow gauge, coal fired, steam powered, railroad at just shy of $90 a ticket plus concessions and lunch. Hundreds upon hundreds of people do this daily all summer, my first ride was fifty years ago.

The second biggest pull IIRC is Mesa Verde, essentially mud huts built on the side of sandstone bluffs, woo hoo!

My point is simply that the product typically being sold by a studio or a steam RR or a florist, isn't of any practical value, it's value is intangible and social.

I.e. If you tick off the wife, $75 for a dozen high quality dead flowers is cheap and generally effective for most offenses. If you have to buy forgiveness with rocks you are simply in a different market.