Atlantis Photography Blog

An Interesting Letter

I received a letter yesterday which I found quite interesting.  It was interesting in that it was anonymous, and because the writer saw my postings on the blog and some thing on the website as giving the impression that I was a very bitter person--bitter mostly towards the amateur photographers.
Anytime you get a letter unsigned, you have to ask yourself what was the persons motivation.  Is it in an effort to help you, or in an attempt to hurt you.  Either way, I did take note of it, and realized that I have been focusing a little too much effort on the amateurs, and if one reader sees this as bitter, others will also, so some explaining is in order.
First let me say that often times what is written is read in a different tone than what is was written in.  Until you know the person that did the writing, you really are the one choosing the tone you read it in.  In an English class in college, this was demonstrated to us with the sentence "I didn't throw her down the stairs".  If you put the emphasis on "I" it implies someone else threw her down the stairs but it wasn't you.  If the emphasis is put on "stairs" it's that you threw her down, but not down stairs.  If you put the emphasis on "her" you are saying you threw someone else down the stairs, and so on. 
The writer of the anonymous letter claimed to be in business for themselves, but not as a photographer; however, I did get the impression they might know someone who falls in the category of amateur professional photographer, and read my quips in a more slanderous tone when they were reading them.
Since the letter is anonymous, the only way to reply to the writer is here on the blog where this all got started in the first place.  This will be my last post about the amateurs, as what I really need to say is going to be in this post.
The movie Jurassic Park had a great line in it, where Jeff Goldblum's character says something like, "Scientist ask themselves can we do it, before they ask themselves if they should do it".  This is where I see the problem in photography today.  When I started my business, I had worked for a commercial photographer in FL for a year, went to seminars by some of the best photographers in the country, invested in professional equipment--including lights, and knew how to use them, took courses in business to know how to price, learned how to do actual airbrushing, and had a business license.  When I started my business 17 years ago, there were 6 full time photographers, and maybe 4 part time photographers.  For 14 years, this stayed about the same, and we were all able to make a good living at a respectable profession.
Since anonymous says you are in business for yourself, I'd invite you to put yourself in my shoes, and the shoes of other professional photographers when I tell you what has happened in what used to be professional photography.
3 years ago, digital cameras became affordable, and smart enough that anyone could set the camera to program, and take a picture that was exposed well, and in focus.  Computers were now cheap, and the need to take a picture right in the camera, got traded off to fixing the image in the computer afterward.  Suddenly, we went from the 6 full time photographers and 4 part-timers, to 5 full-timers and 30+ part-timers.  Imagine anonymous, if suddenly 25 more people jumped in to your line of business.  Now that's pretty tough on any industry, but it also happened during the worst recession of my lifetime, and on top of that number, imagine if these 25 people were selling their products at a loss.
When I started my business 17 years ago, an 8x10 went for $20-$50.  Those charging $20 really weren't making any money at it, and $35 seemed to be where the price needed to be to grow a business.  The amateurs today price their 8x10 at $10!  The reason they can do this, is because someone else is paying their living expenses, and they don't have a business license, so they aren't paying taxes.
Where the real problem comes in, is that with 25 people that are under trained, and under priced, they still are the majority, and majorities set new standards.  So imagine anonymous if 25 people came into your industry with prices that were half that of what the lowest prices were 17 years ago, and there were so many that your industry itself started to unwind.
I know photographers all over the country that are going out of business, because of this.  As for myself, I used to have two employees, and I just now hired one after a year without any, because the market is over-satruated, with people that aren't playing by the rules of business.  Those rules being you're supposed to make money at it, and pay taxes on what you make.
As I said, they've become the majority now, and in most of my blog postings, I'm trying to educate people on what it is that's happening, and how it could effect them.  What people see most now, are pictures with bad lighting, bad color, and a lot of special effects and touch-ups to try to make up for the problems that happen when you don't take a good picture in the first place.  Suddenly "good enough" is becoming the new standard, and people are buying into pictures that they think are good, but in short order they will realize that "good enough" isn't very good at all.   The problem with this is that by the time a senior realizes their senior pictures are really bad, it's too late to do them again, and the amateur photographers are hell bent on doing senior pictures.  It's a one shot deal, and where before your choices were people that did a good job, now the greater majority are not.  The reason for this is that too many people are saying I can be a photographer, before asking if they should become a photographer. 
This is the last post I will make about the AWACs anonymous, so if your goal was to help me see the light, I saw it.  I would however ask you to meet me in person though, because it's apparent that you don't know me at all, and I think after meeting me, you might read my posts more in the way that I wrote them, not in the way that you were reading them.

Sasala Family

Well, today is the day I should have been returning from California, and I guess had  I gone, I wouldn't have been able to do this family portrait tonight.  It was a surprise birthday party for the lovely woman seated in the center of the picture.  The gathering was at Pie Cucina in Blairsville, and with a packed house, it was a good thing that it was a nice day.  I found a small area that was large enough to accommodate the groups, and nice enough to make for an appealing portrait.  The Sun was setting when we started, so I had to combine some studio lights with what was left of the natural, but was able to balance them out so it looked like it should.  I'll post more of the shots tomorrow, but right now, the night is calling, and some friends of mine are playing music at the Brown.

Graduation Cards

This past year, we started offering a wide selection of Graduation Cards.  These cards have been used for the actual announcement-which is far nicer than what people have bought from the school-as Party Announcements, and Thank You Cards.  This is just another of the many good reasons to choose Atlantis for your senior pictures.

The IRS, and UPS Guy...Named Pam

Today was different.  First, Lucy came in to see her pictures with 5 of her friends.  As we were waiting for he mom, we hear the door open, and all the girls shout out Hi Pam!  Pam doesn't say anything, and when we turn around, there's the UPS guy walking out the door.  I'm wondering what was going though his head all day--Why did all those girls call me Pam?
Then, as I'm in the back room putting together the contact sheet, the door opens again, and a short somewhat meek middle aged woman asks everyone on the couch where I am.  Pam...the real Pam this time, calls to me, and I come out to this power trippin woman flashing me her IRS badge like shes some sort of FBI guy!  REALLY!  So, to show the intelligence level were dealing with here, the woman asks me if I'm busy with clients.  There's 4 cars in the parking lot, and 6 people on my couch....NO, I'm having a slumber party with teenage girls, and that's our chaperon sitting on the right!
What was this about?  I owed them $60, and they didn't get checks for employees taxes.  Could it be because I don't have any freakin employees?  So, at the end, she tells me that the IRS will get there money if any is owed, and I told her that it's so nice to be guilty until proven innocent, and we parted ways.  Unbelievable!
So, the day went on, I had to go to the accountants, they couldn't believe what happened, and the rest of the day, I just thought about the UPS guy thinking he must need to work out, or that somehow his closet identity has been disclosed.

Radioactive Eyedrops and Oompa Loompa Skin

I've done photography for many years now, and I've learned that fads, or trendy techniques are good for an occasional image, but with the recent outburst of Wanna-Be photography that's out there, the trick to making people like their work is in the trendy touch-ups that they add to the picture to cover up the fact that it wasn't a very good picture to start with.
When it comes to clothes, when the trend is over, the clothes go to the goodwill.  When it comes to pictures, as long as you have a wall to hang it on, your picture will be there for everyone to see, and the trend will look more ridiculous with every passing year.  With nothing to compare an image to, it's hard at first to see how stupid it looks, so I thought I'd split an image to show you what I'm talking about.
You see, all that punchy color, digital mannequin-smooth skin, and neon glowing eyes, looks pretty damn funny when you get to compare to what it looks like in real life.  This isn't to say that adding digital retouching is a bad thing, but when it's done, it needs to be done so it A. Still looks like you, and B. Will be believable and pleasant to look at in the future.  I guess it's a good trick now, but I do feel sorry for the people that got this for their senior pictures.  No one really has orange skin with no pores, and eyes so bright they glow, but when you don't get to compare it to what it would look like where the colors are natural and true colors, it's not your fault you didn't know how you were being fooled.

 

Weekends and Evenings

This is the time of the year when people ask if I have sessions on the weekends or in the evening.  Well, I do, but for Families not Seniors.  Let me explain why.  First, I know how to do lighting outside, and unlike the amateurs I don't have to shoot in the evening to get good light, I can create great lighting outside all day.  With a senior, you are going to be there a while, and if the evening is cloudy, you don't have much of any light really.
The reason I don't have sessions after school, is that most kids are involved in sports or band this time of the year.  I don't understand this, but when I had sessions after school, nobody could do them, because they couldn't miss practices.  It's just too important I guess, but it's OK to miss school.  Now, I just continue with my same schedule of 9AM, and 2PM when I know I will have the kind of lighting I need to make the great three dimensional looking images I create.
So then there's Saturday.  When I had the Saturday appointments, guess what day most seniors didn't show up for their sessions on.  Hmmm, could it be Saturday?  YES IT WAS!  It's amazing how many family emergencies happened on Saturday, till finally I realized they probably just found something else to do that day.  When summer ends, I also shift my efforts to the family portraits when there's still good foliage, and then into the shift of Fall colors.  So, if you are one of those people that didn't come in during the Summer when you had all the time in the world to do so, we still can do your senior pictures, you just get to miss some school to do them is all.

Lucy, A Special Occasion!

This will be another special posting, as I am going way over my two poses that I show from every session.  The reason for this...well, you see this mornings session was really one of the most fun sessions I've done ever.  Lucy really needs to come out of her shell though--If you know her, you know I'm kidding!  First, I got a whole new respect for ADD-DD--D.  Becca came with her this morning, and said this is pretty much how she is all the time, and if that's the case, I can see why people would enjoy being around her!
Some of the highlights of the session, I got pictures of, and threatened to post the out-takes.  Well, it's not a threat if you do it I guess.  One of the moments not captured was when Lucy picked up the stuffed animal known as the DinoRoar.  She wanted to know why I had it so I told her to squeeze it.  When she let go, and the DinoRoar--roared, Lucy came off the ground with an almost equal scream of her own!

 

Hypnosis

When people come to the studio, some see the picture of me doing hypnosis.  I started hypnotizing people after I saw it done as a stage show when I was working for The Penn.  I finally took classes for it, and got certified 3 years ago.  I find it interesting that most people associate hypnosis with the stuff they see on TV--where the person comes out of it asking what happened.  What hypnosis is when I use it, is more of creating a connection between the subconscious mind that knows the answers, to the conscious mind that thinks it knows everything.  It's amazing to see how people go back to an isolated situation that molded their life for many years, and to see that Holly Shit moment where they see what it's done to them.
In my photography, I use many techniques I've learned thorough doing hypnosis.  I get many people that have had bad pictures in the past, and because of it, they expect their pictures with me will turn out the same way.  It doesn't matter to them that every picture they see of people I've photographed has turned out fantastic, to them, they will be the exception.  I'm happy to disappoint them, but it takes more than a camera and good lens to get someone to forget many years of being a photogenic failure.
When I read the testimonials from the session, the one thing that stands out most to me, is when people tell me I captured the real them, or their child's real self.  I do this time and time again.  It doesn't happen by accident.  Getting someone to be themselves in front of the camera is a skill.  This goes for those that don't like to be there, and those that do.  When the camera comes out, people just act differently, and the trick is to get them out of their own way,  and to push the shutter button at the right time to capture the true essence of who the are.

The Big, Little Differences

All of my life, my clothes got washed, and put in the dryer.  I'm sure that most of you reading this have done pretty much the same.  Recently, with the flea explosion that my cat brought into the house, I've had to wash my sheets about every two days as I get rid of the infestation.  At my new house, there is a laundry line, and one day it finally dawned on me that it doesn't cost anything to put those sheets out on the line.
Now, here's where the surprise came in.  The sheets from out on the line smelled so fresh, and felt so good.  It sounds strange, but as I laid on the sheets that night, it was just thinking WOW!  Then I realized that this is the same thing when it comes to photography.  Everyone has had pictures taken, and just like clothes from the dryer, there's not a lot of excitement involved.  But, when people come here for pictures, they are amazed at how much different, something that's for the most part the same, can actually be.  The differences are as subtle as sheets dried in the Sun with a gentle breeze, but the final result can only be explained with WOW!
So, next time you wash you bed sheets, try putting them outside to dry, and next time you get pictures taken, call Atlantis.

An Edgy End

As the summer shooting season ends, Nathan was my last session of the busy Summer rush.  I have a few sessions for next week, but for the most part this is the last really busy week until the second week of Sept. when the Fall shots start.
Nathan has an edgy look, and even though his session didn't call for the things I did, I did them anyway because it was something that needed to be done.  The ring light is the perfect tool for giving that hard, edgy look to an image, but I didn't stop there.  This guitar shot just needed something more hard looking to make it what it needed to be.
At the end of the session I had Nathan play a little guitar, and I joined in on the Native American Flute.  It sounded pretty good, and had we had more time, I think it would have been fun to just hang out on the bridge, enjoy the breeze, and play some music!