It was entirely possible to do photographs even before the advent of digital cameras. Or autofocus. Or HDR. Or ..........
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I dunno, man. I think you're just pulling our legs now. I mean, how could you have taken pictures without a 76-gigapixel, double-back-flip-bsi, bayericized nano mirrorless Sony AF-P-RIII Mark VI camera? Seriously.
Hey - even I could do that! But my Pentax Spotmatic had a little circular Fresnel thingy in the center of the screen. Make the wavy lines go away and the target was in focus. Was that cheating?
I don't believe it. All the pictures you posted are clearly digital as they are on my screen :)
I saw an advert, one of those clickbait things, and it had a picture of a young Charles Bronson with a pretty woman on his arm, and the caption read: "You wont believe these pictures taken before photoshop existed"... Or words to that effect. A thought popped into my head... while it might not have existed then, it exists now... So these could still have been photoshopped.
I never clicked on the advert, so I will never know.
It's still good fun to do it that way for us hobbyists, although trying to make a living shooting film would probably be like juggling flaming torches with one arm tied behind one's back.
I honestly think here is a market for high end 4x5 or 8x10 film portraits. Certainly a niche market. To make it successful it would have to be aimed at wealthy clients who can afford this "high touch" approach to immortalizing their likeness. By making yourself very choosy on who you deal with and charging a fee mortals would blanch at, the well heeled would be beating down your door.
Eric, I get where you are coming from but there is an old saying in the pizza delivery business: "The Longer the Driveway the Lower the Tip!" Most wealthy people get there by being frugal. Some pathologically frugal.
I remember the famous wedding photographer who was dying to break into the highest end of the business. His chance came. He hired extra photographers. He covered the wedding with thousands of shots. The family finally ordered. Three 5x7 inch color prints. He was flabbergasted. I'm sure he'd already put down a deposit on a Porsche, expecting a huge and highly profitable print order.
He asked the house manager, "didn't they like the photographs?" The reply was that the photos were lovely, hence the order for three of the same image. One of the wedding couple. One for each set of parents. One for the bride and groom. "But" stammered the photographer, "Didn't they want a complete record of their 'special day'?" The house manager replied: "When you are extremely wealthy all your days are special days..."
I don't chase the 1/10th of 1%. There's not enough return and way to much work involved. From my observation the idea that there is a wealthy niche ready to spend money on portraits is a chimera.
The newly rich was what I referring too. I have had plenty of dealings with old money and yes they are generally very tight. Whereas the newly rich just can't wait to see what all their new found wealth can get them. They get especially giddy if they have something no one else has and can brag about it on Instagram.
I would do this as part of my retirement gig with little to no marketing beyond hooking the first fish. I would be happy doing ten $10,000 gigs per year. But hey being a dreamer doesn't cost anything ;) . But then again I would have to become a really good portrait photographer, which I'm not.
Kirk your marketing and business sense are second to none plus you are one hellava portrait photographer!
Thank you Eric, but I know from experience I wouldn't have much fun with those folks as my primary customers... They like to control the process too much.
11 comments:
I dunno, man. I think you're just pulling our legs now. I mean, how could you have taken pictures without a 76-gigapixel, double-back-flip-bsi, bayericized nano mirrorless Sony AF-P-RIII Mark VI camera? Seriously.
Ken
Hey - even I could do that! But my Pentax Spotmatic had a little circular Fresnel thingy in the center of the screen. Make the wavy lines go away and the target was in focus. Was that cheating?
I don't believe it. All the pictures you posted are clearly digital as they are on my screen :)
I saw an advert, one of those clickbait things, and it had a picture of a young Charles Bronson with a pretty woman on his arm, and the caption read: "You wont believe these pictures taken before photoshop existed"... Or words to that effect. A thought popped into my head... while it might not have existed then, it exists now... So these could still have been photoshopped.
I never clicked on the advert, so I will never know.
It's still good fun to do it that way for us hobbyists, although trying to make a living shooting film would probably be like juggling flaming torches with one arm tied behind one's back.
I honestly think here is a market for high end 4x5 or 8x10 film portraits. Certainly a niche market. To make it successful it would have to be aimed at wealthy clients who can afford this "high touch" approach to immortalizing their likeness. By making yourself very choosy on who you deal with and charging a fee mortals would blanch at, the well heeled would be beating down your door.
Eric
Eric, I get where you are coming from but there is an old saying in the pizza delivery business: "The Longer the Driveway the Lower the Tip!" Most wealthy people get there by being frugal. Some pathologically frugal.
I remember the famous wedding photographer who was dying to break into the highest end of the business. His chance came. He hired extra photographers. He covered the wedding with thousands of shots. The family finally ordered. Three 5x7 inch color prints. He was flabbergasted. I'm sure he'd already put down a deposit on a Porsche, expecting a huge and highly profitable print order.
He asked the house manager, "didn't they like the photographs?" The reply was that the photos were lovely, hence the order for three of the same image. One of the wedding couple. One for each set of parents. One for the bride and groom. "But" stammered the photographer, "Didn't they want a complete record of their 'special day'?" The house manager replied: "When you are extremely wealthy all your days are special days..."
I don't chase the 1/10th of 1%. There's not enough return and way to much work involved. From my observation the idea that there is a wealthy niche ready to spend money on portraits is a chimera.
Go after the newly rich, they can't help themselves...
"We don't call it a limousine, we call it "the car."
The newly rich was what I referring too. I have had plenty of dealings with old money and yes they are generally very tight. Whereas the newly rich just can't wait to see what all their new found wealth can get them. They get especially giddy if they have something no one else has and can brag about it on Instagram.
I would do this as part of my retirement gig with little to no marketing beyond hooking the first fish. I would be happy doing ten $10,000 gigs per year. But hey being a dreamer doesn't cost anything ;) . But then again I would have to become a really good portrait photographer, which I'm not.
Kirk your marketing and business sense are second to none plus you are one hellava portrait photographer!
Eric
Thank you Eric, but I know from experience I wouldn't have much fun with those folks as my primary customers... They like to control the process too much.
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