Why Archival?

There is a picture of my Great, Great Grandpa and Grandma in my father’s foyer. It is sepia and a little creepy cause it’s from the early 1900’s to late 1800’s, When no body smiled due to long exposure times.  Minus the photo’s creepiness I enjoy looking at the picture because I can see where my dad gets so many of his features from and in turn even where get some of mine. The picture was arrived and kept safe from the natural brake down process.

Often when looking at art supplies artist see archival and note the more expensive price. If archival is more expensive then why get it? For photographer’s it’s so the photograph stay’s it’s truest form and resist fading.  Using archival products deters unwanted degrading of the product. When a client purchases a piece of art for $100+ they do not want it to fade and degrade in value.

The most common archival concern is in paper, and adhesives. They contain acid, which erodes and yellows photographs. Have you ever looked though your old family albums and wondered why the pictures are turning yellow and fading; it is do to the adhesive, paper, and even the plastic covering. In a hundred years most of those picture albums will be indiscernible and lost to feature generations.

As Artist, we have to choose our materials for our art. Some times the subject dictates our materials, other times it is our own preferences, but if we want our work to last and out last ourselves we choose archive materials.

 

Some great archive art supplies :

I have used theses supplies my self and find then easy to work with.

You can get theses supplies at your local art store or here at ArtSupply.com http://www.artsupply.com/headerpages/archival.htm

 

I get my paper from B&H http://www.bhphotovideo.com or Calumet http://www.calumetphoto.com

Written by: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the Professional Photographers of America http://www.ppa.com/

In house vs Out sourcing

In college, I spent hours, days, and weeks, in the dark room and print lab working my photo projects. I loved the feeling of working the medium and producing the perfect print. The longer it took me the more enduring the final print became. I enjoyed working the chemicals and experimenting with alternative printing process both in the dark room and in the print lab. Theses process and experimentation can only happen in an in studio print lab. My hands produced art, my heart felt, even when I switched entirely over to digital Photography and did much of my work on the computer, but controlled and worked the print.

Now, I out source all my print work to a print lab. The reason for the switch is an economical one. Unfortunately, I cannot afford my own state-of-the-art print lab, nor is it plausible to spend hours perfecting each print. A print lab has everything already configured and many more supplies than I have access too. Just for a basic print lab with just an Epson Stylus pro 9880 printer initial cost would be about $5,461 and to keep using it would coast $1,132 in paper and ink. At the moment, my studio is not large enough to hold the equipment and my cliental have not grown enough to support the financial investment.

Out sourcing has allowed me to print on many different mediums I would otherwise not have tried, such as metallic prints that have and in-depth chemical process and metal prints with is printed directly on aluminum. I also have the ability to have prints printed on stretched canvas and are ready to hang on the wall. With out sourcing I have the freedom to use my energy to prefect my images and let those who have already perfected the art of printing print my work saving energy, time, and money. To produce my 1^st 60 out sourced 8X10’s it coasted me about $186 to produce giving me $1,614 in profit. The 1^st 60 in house would still leave me approximately $3,661 in dept.

Economically speaking out sourcing to print labs is definitely more profitable, but for the love of art, I still want my print lab.

Prices were taken from B& H Photo-Video-Pro Audio http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Reputable Print Labs

Apollo Imagizing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin http://www.apollo-imagizing.com

BayPhoto.com in Santa Cruz, California http://www.bayphoto.com

Iprintfromhome.com in Buffalo, New York http://iprintfromhome.com/

Written by: Mandy Chenoweth, BFA

owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the Professional Photographers of America http://www.ppa.com

“Capturing the moment” what dose that really mean any way?

             Many photographers talk about capturing the moment, but what do they really mean? Moreover, what moment are they talking about? For the most part it really is artist speak tor the perfect picture. The perfect picture tells a story and expresses emotion. The favorite “moment” for child photography is the expression of true curiosity. Other popular “moments” are of adoration, love, growth, and surprise.  If a photographer can successfully capture these emotions and stories with a beautiful composition then they have captured the moment and not just a stander pose or smile.

            For weddings, photographers really are trying to capture moments to tell the couple’s love story and preserve the memories of the day. The most popular moments are the enviable cake fight, father’s goodbye, the first kiss, and the beautiful love between the couple.

            For seniors, photographers try to capture moments that revile the senior’s personality. The point of senior pictures is to celebrate the senior and their hard work.

            For families, photographers try to capture moments that are unique to the way the family members interact with each other. These pictures then are timeless as well as precious to the family.

            “Capturing the moment” is what sets experienced photographers apart from the armature photographer. Armature and hobbyist photographers get a lot of happy accidents and can often spot a decent photograph, but the experienced photographer can set the moment-up to happen.

By: Mandy Chenoweth, BFA Owner of Focal point imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the PPA http://www.ppa.com

On Location vs Studio Photograph

On Location vs Studio Photography

As photography student putting my self through art school, I worked for JC Penny Portrait studio. Their photography is shot in the studio, with preset lighting that could move up or down based on height, and turn on and off a hair light, and a directional light. The lighting had options but was quite limited and all pre set calculations; of course limiting the lighting options, kept the length of the photo sections shorter. Unfortunately, that is the assembly line side of photography and is what most Americans go to for quick and cheep photos, and sadly they are also cookie cuter and impersonal. The studio’s do try for the “precious moments” unfortunately, they fall short of the personal and unique moments. 

Other studios like Monica Cubberly-Early Custom and Design Portraiture take a bit more effort to make their clients at home and comfortable. They focus the studio on the clients making sure there are refreshments and little comforts like, plush quilts, soft music, and clean fresh smells (Cubberly-Early, 2005) . These nuances’ go a long way in capturing real smiles and true moments.

Unfortunately, for some like myself and Duenkel Portrait Art make the studio comfortable just is not enough. Duenkel Portrait Art prefer to shoot on location capture the real laugher, and places that mean something to the clients (Duenkel, 2005).  Sure sometimes being at someone’s home can be a bit of a challenge, but it pushes one creative limits and helps set pace with the ever changing trends. This dose mean one has to carry supplies to locations such as a couple lights and reflectors and a few props like tooling or claps and perhaps as sheet or two, but still less than in studio. One would also have to be pretty good with Photoshop to help polish off the finish products, but over all everyone will be much happier.

By: Mandy Chenoweth, BFA owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and

Member of Professional Photographers of America since 2009 http://www.ppa.com

Monica Cubberly-Early Custom and Design Portraiture, http://www.monicacubberly-early.com

Cubberly-Early, Monica. The heart of the matter: How to capture the essence of your subjects.June 2005. Found March 26, 2011 at http://www.ppmag.com/articles/29/The-heart-of-the-matter-How-to-capture-the-essence-of-your-subjects.php

Duenkel Portrait Art web site http://www.duenkel.com/families/index.html

Duenkel, Fuzzy. Look homeward: The benefits of photographing anywhere but your studio. May 2005. Found March 26, 2011 at http://www.ppmag.com/articles/14/Look-homeward-The-benefits-of-photographing-anywhere-but-your-studio.php

Why Pay for a Photographer

As a photographer, the greatest competitor is the digital camera. People continuously ask “why would they need a photographer if they have a digital camera,” Followed by “Why should we pay so much for a photography session and not get to keep all the photos, when I get to keep all the ones on my camera?”.

To answer my clients, the sitting fee covers the time, talent, and equipment used to create beautiful artistic photographs. Most photographers theses days use digital cameras which allows them to take more photos with less product cost, but it takes more editing time, which is the most limited resource anyone has. For every hour in a sitting, there is an additional one to two hours of editing before photos are presented to the client. The viewings can take-up to another hour and depending on the studio’s ordering process clients can take another hour picking out and ordering photos. In other cases, clients are left to order when ever they desire, which can lead to no order placed or a larger period of time with questions and bartering of price. Still many clients ask for additional editing to finalize images which depending on request can take a couple of hours.

Sitting Fee Covers
Scheduling	30 minuets of work
Sitting	2 hours of work
Editing	4 hours of work
Viewing of edited photos	1 hour of work
Reworking final photos	2 hours of work
Ordering	1 hour of work
Delivery of deliverables	1 hour of work
Total hours of work	11 hours and 30minuets of work

Less tangible but more noticeable in the final product is talent and the time spent on experience and education. Photographers know, love, live, and breathe their work. They have earned the knowledge of posing and camera angles, struggled and perfected the lighting, and like all artist developed a style, a langue within their work. Because of a photographer’s experience and knowledge they can visualize the desired content of an image, foresee the issues and solve most of them before the editing process. Photographers also have experience working with people and know how to get the desired expression for each image. It will take less time, less shots, and less head aches then it would for an armature with a digital camera to accidently take the same picture.

The most accessible to clients is the equipment a photographer uses. Obvious a high megapixel professional camera that they keep up to date and in great condition and usually range from the low end of $1200 up to $25,000. Then there are at least three lenses ranging in price from $500 up to $10,000. Another necessity is the latest computers and editing software starting at $3,000. Additionally there is lighting, backgrounds, props, storage, and transportation. Unfortunately, none that fancy equipment matters if the photographer does not know how to use it. As a result, photographs are constantly going to seminars and conferences to stay up to date on the how-tos. One pays for a Photographer to get the best possible piece of art to capture and represent ones precious memories.

Written by: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA

Owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org

Member of Professional Photographers of America since 2009 ID# 5137696 http://www.ppa.com

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Photography/ci/989/N/4294538916