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Thread: My History

  1. #1
    Brandon Draper's Avatar
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    My History

    Just a little history about me if anybody is interested. I've been a professional potrait photographer since 1995 in western Nebraska. I started with film of course in those days with a Mamiya M645 then onto a RB67 until 2004 when I went digital with a Minolta 7D (loved that camera), then switched to Nikon because Minolta sold to Sony and I couldn't wait for them. Started with a D200 then went with the D3 last year. Started in large format years ago with a Calumet Cadet, which I still have. Just recently bought a Shen-Hao 4x5 and a Deardorff 8x10.

    I always had a darkroom and that is how I started down the potrait photographer path. Did all the b&w darkroom work for my aunt when my uncle (who was a local photographer for years) past away in 1994. In 2000 I sold my studio building and bought one of my competitors studio which had been around for over 50 years (oh the wonderful smell of old studios, memories) which had a full color darkroom with a Sitte 32"color processor. Still have, anybody interested in one of those? Anyway torn down the darkroom out of my studio 2 years ago to make room for a computer production room. Kept most of my darkroom equipment and the stuff I sold I bought back from the person I sold it to. Now trying to build another darkroom somewhere else in the studio. Right now just developing my film in a Jobo CPA until I can move my R/C plane (another one of my many hobbies) stuff out and make it a darkroom.

    Times I feel it was easier when I used film instead of now with digital. One example, when photographing weddings back in the film days I spent around 5-6 hrs. photographing the day and shot 100-150 images then sent the film of to the lab. Now with digital it is 8-12 hrs. of photographing and 500 images, which now of course I have to spend countless hours in front of a monitor editing and processing. That is why I dropped weddings this year.

    That is pretty much my story. Mostly shooting LF for pleasure with maybe a few portraits mixed in for the hell of it. Glad to be back in the dark.

  2. #2
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: My History

    Thanks for the background. I'm curious why if you are spending so much time processing files from weddings, why you are not able to work that time into your pricing? The same is true of architectural photography. We are doing allot more images in a day than we were with film and spending a ton of time in front of the computer, but processing fees are covering that time.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  3. #3
    Brandon Draper's Avatar
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    Re: My History

    Oh yes, that time was figured into my pricing. I just found out as the older I'm getting, spending time with my family on saturdays is more important to me.

    Also the portrait & wedding photography market is getting so oversaturated with new photographers willing to give their time & work away for pennies it is just isn't worth it anymore to do weddings.

  4. #4
    Dave Karp
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    Re: My History

    Quote Originally Posted by Brandon Draper View Post
    . . . Times I feel it was easier when I used film instead of now with digital. One example, when photographing weddings back in the film days I spent around 5-6 hrs. photographing the day and shot 100-150 images then sent the film of to the lab. Now with digital it is 8-12 hrs. of photographing and 500 images, which now of course I have to spend countless hours in front of a monitor editing and processing. That is why I dropped weddings this year. . . .
    Hi Brandon,

    My friend who is a pro photographer says the same thing, only his clients would not pay extra for the photoshopping work. They expected to have finished files from him. He was close to retiring anyway, so he has cut way back. He likes to Photoshop for himself, but I have heard him mention a few times how it was easier when he was shooting film and just turning the transparencies over to the client.

    I hear you about spending time with the family. That is why I end up with so much unprocessed film in the fridge.

  5. #5
    Brandon Draper's Avatar
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    Re: My History

    My prices were where they should of be for a professional with years of experience, but with digital everybody just wants the files and no finished product thinking they can do better them self. When in reality they are to busy with life after the wedding it never gets done and pretty soon they are not able to read the CD the photographer gave them.

    Really sad thing about digital is that a generation of images are going to be lost because nobody does anything with their images after they take them, they just leave on their cameras or computers. I'm just as quilty with my personal family images as everyone else. Just gets put off.

  6. #6
    Dave Karp
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    Re: My History

    We were having the same problem -- Family photos disappearing into the hard drive forever. We still fight that, but my wife uploads them to Snapfish.com and a few days later, we receive 4x6s in the mail. She does a nice job of editing them, and we do little or no Photoshopping. They just go straight from the SD800 or D70, to the hard drive, to Snapfish, and back home.

    I have often thought about how much "history" will be lost with digital files. We find old glass plates, old negatives, and old prints. We can hold them up to the light, print them, whatever. What will we "find" with a bunch of old digital files?

  7. #7

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    Re: My History

    I have often thought about how much "history" will be lost with digital files. We find old glass plates, old negatives, and old prints. We can hold them up to the light, print them, whatever. What will we "find" with a bunch of old digital files?[/QUOTE]

    Good Point, I've thought about this as well. What will people have for photos in 50 years? My folks and myself have family albums and wedding albums that you can look through w/o a computer. I don't think the majority of folks print their images now or have negs to print later if the prints get messed up. I lost several years of digisnaps when doing a transfer to a hard drive. The file names were there but the images were gone. I back up everything now but how long will that last or be readable?

  8. #8

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    Dec 2007
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    Re: My History

    I look upon digital imaging/files as Orwellean 'Memory Holes'. I have B&W negatives of my family which go back a hundred years.
    -30-

  9. #9

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    Re: My History

    It's hard to bill computer time as an extra expense. In the old days you could bill for everything but now it's all different. I would bill for film and processing and polaroid with a 300 to 400% markup and people paid because it was tangible stuff.

    Now I can't bill for anything. There isn't anything left to markup and if I try to bill for extra time they just say that it's my problem and why should they have to pay for it. The answer is that you have to really carefully estimate your time in advance and figure it into the price. It means that you're prices are going to look high but what can you do?

    Digital photography has sort of eliminated the "professional" from professional photography. Everyone has a camera and everyone has a computer and printer. My 14 year old niece can make better color prints in her bedroom in her house than the best color printers in the world could have made 20 years ago. It's that accessibility that has changed the marketplace.

    I love it and I hate it. Oh well. As an old photographer once told me; "F#*k it, it's only a hobby."

  10. #10
    Robert A. Zeichner's Avatar
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    Re: My History

    Who was it that said "Buy a camera and you are a photographer, buy a flute and you own a flute"?

    Maybe we need cameras that work like flutes?

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