Sunday Feb 27, 2011

What a wonderful day!
Daughter Tina, Granddaughters April, and Amber along with Great grandson Keekan are here in Floriday visiting.  They got in yesterday afternoon, and we went to Pass A Grill and St. Pete Beach area to soak up some sun.  Left the beach and drove back to Winter Haven, after dark.  Got to Pasquales Pizza and had some great pizza. Today we drove to the Produce Market/ Flee Market to show them the sights.  Tons of people there.  Hard to walk though the isles there were so many there. Everyone is not at the pool soaking up sun, and it is quiet here on the deck by RV...Tempted to take a nap...

Being the only guy except Keegan age "almost one", it is interesting living in a motorhome with that many females.  I got the bathroom at 10 AM I think...but it is all good.

My younger sister Cindy, her husband Scott, and son Joe will be here later today for a cpl of weeks of warmth. They rented the apartment here in the park, so we will have to get them oriented in the next few days prior to Judy and I flying back to Indiana for the PPI convention.  We will have to leave the sunshine for a week, then fly back down until late March when the other daughter and two granddaugters come down.
Looking forward to deep sea fishing with the GD's and going on a Swamp Walk to explore the Everglades again.  They both have lists a mile long of things they want to do when here.  Guess I will have to take them on a canoe ride and show them the gators close up...

So time for thoughts other that family has not been available the past few days, but will get back on track soon.

All I want to do now is take a nap, but they just texted me that they would like some ice tea up at the pool.

Just hollar "OH POOL BOY",,and I will be right there to provide service.

Hope you all have had a great weekend, I know it is sure great here.  82 and sunny....gotta love Florida in February..

A Comment Only about portrait photographers

I just made a comment on a FB notification this morning that I think bears repeating.
Sometimes what comes out of my brain is like water down a well, then other times things spring forth from places in my brain that I know not where they come.

Here is the comment made this morning by a former customer about my portrait photographer father.  Now remember, he has been out of the business for over 30 years, and gone for almost 10..
but this is how his customers remember him., it is simpler now.
She wrote, "He made us all feel really beautiful and special".

And, here is what I said to that comment she made about my father as a portrait photographer.

I replied to this person that yes my father was a good photographer.but.......

"That is what good portrait photographers do...and you don't learn that part from a book."

I continued, "Making any image was the easy part then, and even more so now.
One must learn the HOW and WHAT of your subjects personality. This can be learned by study,observation, and internship, but the basic personality of the photographer is the catalyst.
And, Make the image FOR your client, not OF your client.  You either have the personality, or you don't, period!"

So many portrait photographers feel that if they get a person properly lit with the RIGHT lighting equipment, properly exposed on the latest camera and lenses, and posed. or unposed is some contemporary fashion,  that  their images will sell.  Sorry to disappoint you. 

Nothing more, nothing less.  Understand your subject, get inside the personality, and now be to able to evoke that person's personality, then you will sell images.  Making images is simple with today's technology, and you must still possess the ability to see light quality and direction, but it is the final expression that will tug at the heart strings and move dollars from your customers pocket to yours.
This expose my wife did last year says volumes about what I feel about portrait photography.

Expression and the Experience sells portraits. 

Dad's expression sells this image.  If the pride, and love did not show, it is just another picture of a fella holding a baby.

Learn and focus on capturing personality, not just the image before you.  If it takes a clown, be a clown.  If it takes a teacher, be that teacher, but what ever the subject of your camera and lens requires of you, you must provide.

Have a wonderful weekend, and of course...

Think Spring

B

Spring is in the air

Saturday Feb 19th

Yes!  The warm weather has arrived.  Got the top down and rolling.

Even took the canoe out yesterday on a small lake with Judy.  I sure wished that I had not forgotten to bring a camera along. 

We had taken lunch and ate it lake side, then fished from the bank with no results, so we decided to put the boat in and see what was around the bend of the pond.

It was beautifull.  Mirror lake with various greens and whites from the moss reflecting in the water against an solid deep blue sky. 

We drifed around the corner, and found that the lake went deeper into the country side.  As we drifted in closer to the far shore, I watched "a log" slowly dissapear under the surface. 

Looking further, I saw three more logs with just their eyes and snout sticking above the surface.

Yes!  They were not logs, but small 5 ft gators.  And yes, the breaks went on!

Doing a 180, I scanned the bank further to the West. 

There, shining like a long, green emerald, was at least an 8 ft, momma gator sunning herself.

We waisted no time in letting them have their lake property to themselves, but thanked them mentaly for the visit.  It is one thing to see gators on tv, behind a fence, and quite another to STUMBLE on a young family in the wild, while being on the water for only the second time in a brand new canoe.  You can well imagine the use of the term, Wide Birth.

I have since asked them mentally, that since I now know that they are there, would be ok to pay a return visit with my camera and maybe do a family group photograph..

Momma gave me a wide open smile and said,

                            "U'all come back real soon now, ya hear"

                                     

Time will tell with the visit of family if I can make that happen. 

Spring is on the way.  Get out and see what you can find....just don't forget your camera's.

CUL

B

Wen Feb 16th

HOWDY!!

Just thinking about how it would be nice just to sail all around the seas and not have to worry about money.   Wow! how great would that be?  St. Pete today, Boston  and New York in a day or two, and then back to Jamaica for a month.  Dream on,,,, Dream on... 

But, ya know a lot of folks run their business the same way, on a wish and a prayer with no thought of what it really takes to get where they want to go.

Here is the formula for success in business.  NET Income = A+M+B+CS- OH + COS

                     

What those quantities stand for in any business is for advertising, marketing, branding, and customer service, minus the cost of monthly expenses added to the cost of producing what you are selling.

 Take away any part of that equation and you are doomed to just sit on the bank and watch the ships sail by.

I recently was asked by someone wanting going into professional photography and opening a brick and mortar studio, to look at their business plan.

This thing was 27 pages long, and on the surface was impressive until the figures were looked at closely and then cking out the web page for the photographer.  Not much understanding of lighting, posing, or composition.  Not that one has to be well accomplished to start, but just because you can make images, does not mean you should be in the business of charging others for your services.

On paper he had it figured out and quoted statistics from PMA, that in 2010 studio photographers saw a 23 % increase in business.  REALLY!!!   What planet are you from?

 By his information and those standards in his market area, he could spend $1600 a month for his studio space, and at the same time he had signed a two year contract for radio ads to the tune of 800 a month. 

Now even a blind man can see that with average utilities of maybe another $200 a month, he is looking at $2600 a month in FIXED OVERHEAD.   So let's look at that with logical spectacles.

In a month a business might open 6 days a week and is open 8 hours a day which gives 48 hours to produce any income. But we all know there is much after hours work..but we won't even look there right now.

It is simple math.  Divide 2600 by 48, which is 54.16 per hour, every hour, every day, and every week.

That is just the inhaling and exhaling of the business.  No profit, no new equipment, no advertising, no repairs.

My experience shows that most studios operate on 20-30% profit.  With that understanding, to come up with just a 20% profit on sales to cover just the cost of  54.16 and hour, the business needs to be turning 243.72 per hour to give the business that 20% profit..Now add on the owners salary.  What are you worth an hour?  A janitor makes 12-15 and hour.    So what is your time and talent, and experience worth.  I will just grab a figure of $30 and hour, so now we are up to $273 and change per hour.

 

This still leaves no room for repairs, updating of equipment, new furnishings, new backgrounds, marketing costs and any additional advertising.

The photography business can be very gratifying.

The photography business can be very gratifying,  but it is also hard work if your going to make a living for you and your family by selling it. 

Know your costs.  Know your market.  Know your clients.  And, above all know your market place AND WHAT IT CONTAINS.

This same individual is opening in a population of 70,000 house holds with an  average income of $42,000.

HMMMMMMMMMM  NICE SIZE POPULATION, BUT..........................

Now, knowing that the poverty level in the U.S., by government standards, IS at $36,000 a year, and that means that out of those 70,000 households only about 1/6th of those could even afford his services.  Now introduce the 79 other studios marketing in the same geographic area. That divides the pie pretty thin.

You must anticipate Market Share.

He is spending over 2 grand a month for a potential market of 6000 households, divided between 80 studios or a starting market share of a possible 75 families for the year, and that is starting out with NO reputation. 

 I really hated to break the news to this individual that he is about to loose his shirt.

 

Now, I love the photography business, and I know what it takes, but even with that knowledge, to open a new studio, one must be prepared for the the fact that for first 5 years of a studio business,  in today's world,  it will loose money, or at best break even. 

To operate a profitable photography business it is more than making good pictures. 

What B&J Consulting is all about is to look at a business and its potential, and make suggestions to make it profitable, if possible.

If you can't figure out where you are, and make a plan out for your business, then give me a shout, and we can set up an on site visit to see where your going, and at best get a direction. Let me help you find the compass so you know where your going.  The cost is an investment into your buisness.

Now..everyone say SPRING, SPRING, SPRING...I think I can hear it headed this way.

Have a great day,

B



Of course that sounds like fun to sail of looking for a rainbow, but very few of us are in that shape financially, so we must figure out a way to take the money from a customer's account and put it in our account,... legally. 

A new twist on matting

Saturday Feb 12, 2001

It is a very nice day in central Florida, but cool...just barely made it to the 60 mark so I could put the top down going to the bank and groceries. 

Judy still up North and expect her back on Wen.  Have not had time to do any image work, so must get back in the swing of creating things every day.  But I don't remember if I stuck this one in or not.

and this GIF I stole from someplace the other day...it is cute and feel free to download it for yourself.

Everyone say----

"It is just that easy to make professional images,,,,right?"

 Wrong! 

It takes training in composition, lighting, and a little foresight in the posing for the effectiveness of the shot.  But the light quality must speak to the image.

    That is called image continuity. 

The pose, composition, and light direction might be all correct, but if the quality of the light does not go along with the theme, or subject matter of the image, and add to the total story, then it becomes a distraction, therefore no continuity of the image. 

Sort of like photographing an infant with a stack of school books by window light.  It all works individually, but place together in the same light, and subject, it is not in harmony.

Look at this image compared to the second.  What is different, the light quality.  Here it is harsh, small light source, which equals hard shadows and gives harsh reality look to the image.

Where in the case  in the following image of tools and metal, and contemporary interpretation, the hard light works as part of the story.

And now back the other way which is a broad softer light source which provides for a slower shadow edge transfer and works to tell a complete story even though it is mostly subconscious.

You all have a great weekend..Everyone think SPRING...we need to thaw out everyone up north.

"Create, be  yourself, and grow."

bdroberts@bdroberts.com

Sunday Feb 6th I think...Super Bowl Sunday anyway

Cool and cloudy all day..Added several new images to the completed folder, and then went to friends down the street to watch the game outside on the big tv.   Hat, coat, gloves and wrapped in a big comforter, the gane was good although not the outcome, but stayed warn thoughout.

Judy is catching a cold and she leaves for home on Wen to photograph nursery schools.  Hope she gets over it, what ever it is.  She turned in early right after the game.

Me, I am still fighting the low sugar thing.  But trying to work though and past it, just try and eat every four hours and not gain the pounds back that I managed to get off last month..It is such a struggle after a life of eating like a goat.  Eating anything and everything with no after affects.  Now seem like everything eaten has some negative effect.  OK..enough of the personal stuff.

Talked to a friend in Flint, MI this morning..and things seem to be getting even tighter for him with the bad weather.  Had multiple sports cancellations and now is looking for anyway to make morgage.  It is still going to be rough going for high school senior photograpahers unless they develope a style the  "out ranks" the regular pitcher takers.  One way besides a great personality is to develope a lighting style that just says
YOU.  Use more directional light, along with some kickers and proper hairlight for separtation.  One might even go back to the double key light, ala Don Blair.  It requires the use of parabolic reflectors and barn doors however.  A lighting style that has gone away with the use of wall size softboxes.  It may be time for the return of the "painted with light" look.

Here are a couple of images from todays work.  One, a twist taken from the old poloroid painting look where you shot the picture on poloroid, then befor the emultion set, moved the emultion around with at sharp stick,.  Well, not a stick, but a styest, most used a golf tee.  I think I still have a full package in my desk.

A church front that I found most inviting, and a gargoil...yes a gargoil in front of a hardware store.

That is a different image and a shot of a four and a half foot gargoil outside a hardware store we came across yesterday at the art fair.  How the image got to this stage is impossible to tell.  I should really keep track of my steps as I create images.  But is a focused thought process of useing differend aspects and functions of Photoshop.
Anyway, in its own right, I think it is cool.\  All comments are welcomed too by the way. 
And images from others are always welcomed.

This was a fun project using a style that I have not used for a long time.. It was great to get out the ole Liquify brush and play.  A few "Overlay" layers, and such came into play also...  This place just had a storybook look to it for some reason.  It is just a house that sits back from the main street, and you could walk by it without giving it a second look, but the fact that it was misting and clowdy gave a low ratio image that allowed  for the extentive tonal manipulation.

Here is the result of the white gargoil in front of the hardware store...not really my style but was good excercise.

Now this is in keeping with my style.  Buildings and beautiful entrances seem to grab my attention.

Here is a Church we walked past on the way to the Art Fair.  It is most inviting I think.

That is about it for tonight...coming up on midnight again.

Good night and congrats to the Packers on winning the super bowl.....bout time dudes!

B

Friday Feb. 4, 2011

OH MY!  I could really get used to this weather.  It was great today, wish I had had time to go fishin.Wonderful South breeze and sunny with fluffy clouds all day long.  Friends took us to dinner and had a great supper.  The Red Lion, British of course, a place that makes one whale of a fish and chips.  No pun intended.
The sale of my mothers house closed today up in Indiana, and I was printing and scanning a few late documents that had to be back there by this afternoon.  It sure drug out a long tiime and we did not get full value from the property, but the folks that bought it are very happy and it is out of our hair.

Judy spent a few days designing a wedding album only to find that the new software was not the same as with her normal lab and could not get what she wanted.  Then, deleted the composites from the program thinking it was deleting the order.  So , Lesson learned, if you change labs, make sure you understand the software you are going to.  Even if it the same thing like ROES, or Lab Prints.  Each lab has their own version, and their own products.  Make sure you understand the new one, before you jump into something new.
Today's technology is moving so quickly that one might think they know the software, but it might be just slightly different enough to cause you grief.  Check with their customer service or accnt rep in detail before making decisions.  After consulting with studios for almost twenty years, I can tell you from other experiences that even though you THINK you know something,,it is best to go slow and go though everything first.

Ok..off the soap box..

.today's image is a nothing shot make mystical, as a friend put it.  I will show the before and the after.

There are several "new layers" in the overlay mode, as well as burning and dodging using blank layers in overlay mode.  Switching back and forth from black and white to toned and back again with layer maskes.
All I need is a bridge for the Troll to come out of..  Strange how one's work changes with the mood of the day. 

Have a great weekend all.  Judy and I off to an Art Show up North of Orlando tomorrow..  We want to see what is selling, if any thing, especially photography.

Hugs,

Bruce and Judy

Thursday Feb 4 2011

Cloudy and cooler today.  Worked most of the day on images captured over the past week or so.
Making plans for entry into the PPI print compation in March..

Spent the morning making sure utilities got paid up home.  Mail being forwarded sucks.  Takes two to three weeks to get mail.  Rediculious!

So all in all it was a good day.  Better than truding though snow or having no heat, so I hope everyone has their electricity back and the furnace is running.

A couple of images from today.

The last two are snow bird cottages here in the park that I am going to try and sell to the owners...will let you all know how that turns out.

So long for tonight, more tomorrow.

Bruce an Judy

Wen Feb 2, 2011

I hope the folks up North are holding their own and staying warm and safe.  Sounds like it was not as bad as predicted, at least in central Indiana.  Have only seen a couple of pictures and so far everyone is doing ok.  That is good.

Here the excitment was getting news that we are closing at last on Mom's house after months and months of jackin around.  It will be good to have it all settled.

It was a glorious night tonight.  Judy and I went for our walk and it was just wonderfull to walk in shorts and tank top.  I know, I know..I can almost hear the calls now....

There was time to capture a couple of images however which I give to all in hope it will warm your hearts.

Days End 1

Days End 2

So much for todays entry.  The park is almost full now with many others who have learned the way of the goose.  Happy Trails.

B