DWBradshaw

You won’t believe what this Bride had too say…

January 31, 2012 

Tags: cost of wedding photography, marketing to brides, Rick Brewer, selling to brides, starting a wedding business, Wedding Marketing Expert, www.getmorebrides.com
Posted in Marketing to Brides | 21 Comments »

Ginger Bread Cameras

 

Ansel Adams once said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”. Well this year, we’re making the cameras.

Forget about gingerbread men, women, and houses. Our pals Doug and Jenny got into the holiday spirit by making gingerbread cameras!

They showed us just how they did it, so you can make one at home, too.

Make a TLR, rangefinder or a Hasselblad. You can have any camera on your wish list!

Make Gingerbread Cameras

 

WHY IT’S COOL:

There’s no question that we love our cameras. But a camera that tastes as good as it looks? What could be better?

Gingerbread cameras are not only delicious and super fun to construct, but they also make the perfect, mouth-watering centerpiece for your holiday meal.

These cameras will make your guests f/stop in their tracks.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• Gingerbread Dough and Icing (see below)
• Cookie Sheets
• Oven
• Rolling Pin
• Parchment/ Wax Paper
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Electric Mixer (optional)
• Toothpicks



Dough:

• 2 large eggs
• 3¾ cups flour
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt

Icing:

• 3½ cups powdered sugar
• 2 large egg whites

STEP 1 – MAKE THE GINGERBREAD DOUGH:

Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine with a spoon or spatula.

Separate the dough into two even pieces and wrap each ball in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

(Great gingerbread recipe found here)

STEP 2 – ROLL OUT THE DOUGH:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line the cookie sheets with wax paper.

On a floured surface, roll out half the dough to about ¼” thick. This part will be used for the sides and body of the camera. Roll the other half of the dough a bit thinner for the detail pieces, about 1/8 of an inch.

TIP: Roll your dough in between sheets of wax paper to keep it from sticking to your surface and rolling pin.

STEP 3 – CUT OUT THE SHAPES:

Use a knife, or circle and rectangle cookie cutters, to cut out the shapes you need. Use a spatula to transfer your shapes to the prepared cookie sheets. You can re-roll the scraps.

Use the printable template (above) for a twin lens reflex camera.

TIP: Before buying cookie cutters, see what shapes you have laying around your kitchen. We pressed the tops of drinking glasses into the dough for a nice circle outline.

STEP 4 – BAKE AND COOL:

Pop your shapes into the oven at 350 degrees for around 10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.

Let them cool completely before building your camera.

STEP 5 – MAKE THE ICING:

While the gingerbread is baking and cooling, make some hard-core icing that is sure to glue your gingerbread pieces together. You don’t want that camera collapsing after all your hard work! Here’s how:

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until very foamy, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Beat until well blended. Add remaining cups sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating until well blended after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat icing at high speed until very thick and stiff, about 5 minutes.

STEP 6 – TRIM THE EDGES:

While your pieces are still a bit warm, trim the sides with a sharp knife for nice straight edges that are easy to line up.

STEP 7 – ASSEMBLE:

Start with the body of the camera. Construct the sides together using plenty of that thick icing. Once you have the body, go ahead and add the top shapes.

STEP 8 – DETAILS:

Glue on the lenses and film advance wheels.

TIP: Plenty of icing on the back of the piece holds it on tight. It also creates a nice white circle of icing when pressed onto the main body.

STEP 9 – FINE PRINT:

Decorate your gingerbread camera with all the little details that make it awesome. Give it a brand name and a border, or polka dots if you want!

TIP: Spoon the icing into a re-sealable sandwich baggie. Cut a tiny corner off and squeeze the icing through for a more refined look. Use toothpicks to fine-tune the smallest areas.

STEP 10 – ENJOY!

You did it! Now put that bad boy on display for everyone to see!

TAKE IT FURTHER:

• Want more cameras you can eat? Check out these cookie cutters (above) and make ice-cream sandwich cameras!
• Make a collection of rad gingerbread cameras. Study your favorite camera and break it down to its most essential geometric shapes. Make a template for the shapes you need to cut out and bake. Photograph your camera and its sweeter counterpart together.
• Feeling extra festive? Make a gingerbread polaroid camera and prints. Draw your favorite photos with colored icing.

from :  content.photojojo.com/diy/gingerbread-cameras/

Why the cost?

Great explanation of what you are really paying for from the website of http://www.robinlongphotography.com .  This follows along the same idea that we  just “Point and Shoot”.  What we do seems easy, but how many years did it take to get to easy?  

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners, and home “photo printers”, when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time – How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $45 for an 8×10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?

Here’s why.

Simply put, you’re not just paying for the actual photograph, you’re paying for time and expertise.  First, let’s look at the actual time involved.  If you don’t read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:

- one hour of travel to and from session

- two hours of shooting

- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc..

- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2-4 Gb of data)

- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive

- 4-6 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print, internet, and backing up the edited photographs

- 2-3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions/emails, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at PO that have to be sent.

- 1-2 hr in-person ordering session

You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than 12 hours of work from start to finish.  So when you see a Photographer charge a $200 session fee for a 2 hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100/hour.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience.  Even though a quality camera now costs under $3,000, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography.  In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website, etc.

And let’s not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera – and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way – the next time you pay $X to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50.  But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.

What about the cheap studios at the mall?

Please don’t compare us to the chain store studios.  But if you must, consider all the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do.  Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store.  Not to mention they won’t come to the beach, the lake, your home, or downtown!  And of course, look at our work compared to theirs.  You truly get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money.  In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company.  What the chain stores bet on is that you’ll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you’re there, you’ll also spend $200 on other things.  They don’t have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

Conclusion.

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

a note from Robin:

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  I realize some people are not financially able to pay for custom photography, and that’s ok.  Custom photography is an investment that should be planned for.

Class of 2003

Douglas W Bradshaw Gretchen, finally archiving the Class of 2003 senior photos and look what I found! Enjoy !  This was my favorite from the session.

Gretchen Isenor Hahaha! This was the very last pic i took lol!! So funny! I feel like i still look just like that just more mature haha!! Thanks Doug!

Douglas W Bradshaw Be grateful that you haven’t changed much in eight years. Ryanne complains that she still looks like she did in HS. I think that’s great ! Both of you will age slowly. Isn’t that better than the opposite?

Shannon Santos Burch · 4 mutual friends

awww look at Lil Gretch!! Beautiful then, beautiful now :)

Gretchen Isenor Haha yes Doug i completely agree lol!! Tell Ryanne she is beautiful & always will be! 

Patty Isenor · 2 mutual friends

Loved all 4 kids’ senior pictures. None of them have changed!

Praise from the make-up artist.

Doug,

I just had the distinct pleasure of viewing Amanda Silk’s wedding photos
and I am so happy she shared them with me, as they are extraordinary! It
helps that she’s so photogenic, but your work really made her shine! I
wish all my brides would hire you.

I hope you would be OK with me using a few images in my portfolio
(bridalbyliz.com), and I would also very much like to feature Amanda (and
your extraordinary work) in my newsletter and blog. Would this be
acceptable to you? I will of course credit you and link to your webpage.

I made screenshots of my favorite gallery images so they would feature
your watermark/signature, but let me know if you’d prefer to send
different files. (I just find it’s usually easier for photographers if I
do it this way so I don’t have to trouble them for web-res files!)

I will also be ordering a few prints, so stay tuned - and have a Happy
Thanksgiving!

Best,

Liz Washer
Makeup Artist
413-539-8035
http://www.bridalbyliz.com

Feel bad for these second gen wed photogs.

H&H Photographers has a fairytale back story: Its founders, Curt Fried and Harold Gillet, just back from serving in World War II, decided to open a photography studio in the Bronx, right as the marriage rate skyrocketed. Business boomed, and after decades of celebrated work, they handed the business down to their sons, Dan Fried and Larry Gillet.

Meanwhile, equity research analyst Todd J. Remis had his own taste of the fairytale life during his wedding to Milena Grzibovska on Dec. 28, 2003, at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, N.Y.

But when Remis and H & H Photographers hooked up, the result was an entrepreneur’s nightmare.

Unhappy that the company had not taken photos of the last dance and bouquet toss which took place in the last 15 minutes of the wedding, Remis has filed a lawsuit against H&H Photographers as well as its original founders, who are now both in their 80s. He is suing for $4,100 for the cost of photography and $48,000 to bring back the principal attendees and recreate the wedding so new photos can be taken. What Remis failed to disclose in his legal papers is that he got divorced in 2008 — and he doesn’t know the address of his ex-wife, who returned to her native Latvia. “Honestly, I think the whole thing is an abusive lawsuit,” Dan Fried told The Huffington Post. “Having to go through this along with my dad and partner and partner’s dad is a real shame. We have a lot of pride in our work, a love of photography and thousands of happy clients over 65 years. The whole thing is a shame.”

According to Fried, Remis came to the office in January 2004 to pick up his wedding proofs (though in legal papers, Remis denies getting any pictures). “He complained to us right away,” says Fried. “And the company made an effort to try to find a common ground with him. We said if we missed something, we would be happy to offer another type of shoot or do touchup on some images and make some changes for the prints for the wedding album. But that was not enough for him.”

Remis continued to file complaints but never picked up his wedding album or paid his final balance. After years, H&H sent Remis a bill for the outstanding amount due. “He responded with a threatening letter and then shortly thereafter, he sued,” says Fried. That was in 2009, six years after the wedding, a year after the couple separated and a few weeks before the statute of limitations would have expired.

So far, the Frieds and Gillets have spent about $50,000 in legal fees. And it’s not over yet. Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan dismissed most of Remis’ claims, including his claim for infliction of emotional distress, but has allowed the case to continue. At a hearing on Thursday, a court date was set to meet with the judge in December to discuss a settlement. “A settlement is not something that sits well with us, but we have to obey the judge’s orders,” says Fried.

Though the judge’s original opinion contained references to lyrics from “The Way We Were,” and Remis’ lawsuit is being likewise mocked in blogs and social media, this is no joke. Another recent lawsuit that raised just as much widespread ire ended up practically putting a small business out of business. Roy Pearson’s $54 million lawsuit against a Washington, DC, dry cleaner for losing his pair of pants ended up lasting two years before getting thrown out in 2007. A few months later, Jin and Soon Chung, the financially strained owners of Custom Cleaners, were forced to closed two of their three locations.

“That’s the reality of being an entrepreneur today in a society that has so much litigation — you never know what might be around the corner that could make you a defendant,” says Fried. “And it can eat your time and energy and money. You can have all the pride in your work and passion and good intentions and happy clients like we do, but you can run into one rotten egg that gives you a nasty education about our legal system.”

A Sad Day !!

Monday , October 31, 2011

I was in Waltham photographing a job for the Massachusetts Medical Society, and needed a wedding album to finish off a wedding package.  I ventured over to Zeff’s Photo Supply in Belmont, MA.  What a change the the digital age has brought upon us!!  A business that once was thriving supplying professional photographers with professional lighting equipment and supplies is now basically “holding on” catering to the little old ladies that walk in off the street and want to print a 4”x6” print from their point and shoot digital camera that they do not really know how to operate.  A long time supplier of photography supplies, Albums Inc., has also gone the way of the unicorn.  It’s a new world out there.  Time to change the business practices that kept me and other mom and pop businesses going for all these years.

What the Dept of the Attorney General of Massachusetts says.

This is a ruling from the Attorney General of Massachusetts that I have been looking for.  Thanks, Mike.

“While the Department is sympathetic to the difficulties inherent in financing high school yearbooks, it is in violation of the law to bar nonofficial photographers from having their images used in the yearbook. The agreement made between the official photographer and the high school is not a contract between the student and the official photographer. We do not object to the practice of designating an official yearbook photographer and offering them access to school property in exchange for assistance in the production of yearbooks. We also do not object to the high school requiring students who employ nonofficial photographers to meet deadlines and publish specifications in order to use their images in the yearbook. We do believe, however, that a total ban or the assessment of a fee for that privilege places an onerous and illegal burden upon the ability of nonofficial photographers to compete in the senior portrait market.”

 Essentially, the Department of the Attorney General has declared that public schools prohibiting students from using a nonofficial photographer to produce their senior portraits is in violation of the Massachusetts Antitrust Act, General Law Chapter 93, Section 4.

You just point and shoot - Right? Pt2

     I think I basically answered the first question about pointing and shooting and maybe about “easier”.  I’ll ask this question :  Does the following sound easy?  Once the wedding couple has found the photographer that fits their needs and personality -  the business part : marketing and sales -  her’s what happens.  

1) The wedding day :  The bride getting ready. ( Remember , we’re all wedding photojournalists today. )  Putting on make-up, the dress hanging up,  the dress going on, bride’s maids’ interactions,  mom and dad, out the door to the church.  ” I DO .”  The posed photos and other artsy requests are captured.  Then comes the reception were we photograph introductions, the first dance, toasts, cake cutting, parent dances, maybe the garter and bouquet “ceremony” and the wedding couple’s last dance of the evening.  All the above to be captured in many ways and styles because photographers are people too, and we are all different.

2) The wedding day is over, but not the work for the photographer.  We used to take the medium format film and package it up and send it to a pro color lab to get developed and proofed.  We would sort the prints and negatives, put them in order, renumber them, put them in a proofbook and hand it to each bride and groom and wait for their order.  ( I just had a groom call me up from a wedding from November 2002 to see if he could finish their wedding album. )  

2A)  That was film.  Now in the digital world we are the lab until the final prints. Once we sit down at our computers we :

a) Down load the CF cards to a hard drive  and back it up.

b) Edit the images.  What used to be 200-250 images  are 800, 900, 1,000 and more.

c) Load the selected images into Lightroom or Aperture.   Why?  The cameras record in jpg format.  Just use those.  NO!!  Ever try to fix an under or over exposed jpg file?   Hard to impossible to do.  So, to be able to solve a potential problem, I use the camera’s raw file format, which needs to be converted into the jpg format that is used to make the prints.  So we are the lab.  We color correct, brighten, darken, sharpen, clarifying add other enhancements.  A recent wedding of 920 images took me 3.5 hours for this process.

d) Rename the files with the new couple’s last name-number and have Lightroom process out the jogs from the raw files.  Depending on the computer speed, 2.5 - 3 hours.

Now there are close to 1,000 photographs.  How do the brides and grooms and everyone else see them?

e) Resize the images using PhotoShop.

f) Use a program to place 4 images on a page and upload to Blurb.com to make a softcover preview book.

g) Use those same resized images and make a proof DVD at  eMotiomMedia.com.

h) Upload high resolution images to Collages.net  for online viewing and ordering.

i) Wait for the DVDs and proof book to deliver to the wedding couple.

What has been described here is just first half of the wedding photography process.  Decisions about the album , its design etc all have to be made.     Happy Planning!

Doug Bradshaw - www.BradshawPhotography.com