Sunset-Lounge

Greetings. I'll be curious to learn why you've gone with film.

<p>You did not mention if yours will be the only gallery of its kind in the area. that would make a big difference in how much leeway you have in pricing certain items. also, if yours would be the only place to buy certain kinds of pictures (I'm thinking postcards,etc... low priced souvenirs). you need to be aware of where you fit in the local mix... and in that way, also what part you play in that mix.</p>

<p>It sounds like you're putting a gallery into a destination travel site? A beach town. Yes? Is so, I would emphasize photos of the area - recognizable sights of the place your gallery is in. People look for memories of the places they've been. Beaches, streets, board walks, restaurants... what ever can be made recognizable and beautiful photo at the same time.<br>

Beach towns and areas like that often have web sites put up by a chamber of commerce or other local business group. You could link up with them - offer some photos for their use in exchange for a place on their web site.<br>

As for your "already shot" 10,000 pictures I'd suggest putting up a running show. Slide show or computer display. You could do one in the window and one in side. (I'd use more upbeat music than on your web site - music that will keep people actively involved in viewing your slides, or your walls).<br>

You could also put up something friendly - like a photo booth with local scenery that can be "green screened" in. I prefer the old fashioned way - a crudely painted picture with holes to stick your head(s) through... but that's probably. One idea I've toyed with (if I was ever to own a gallery/studio) is to put a video camera facing out the front window. People looking into the camera would see... well - you could do all sorts of things with that.<br>

I guess what my main point is - it's nice to want to be considered a serious artist. But art speaks for itself... and the really good guys make it look easy. When you go on the street retail, even better than being well thought of is to keep the doors open - as in "make the rent" - as in make some money. You an only make money if you sell things people want.<br>

If low price/low margin things - you need to sell a LOT of them. If high price/high margin things - not so many... but you do need to sell things people will buy.<br>

I wish you much luck. A studio/gallery has always been a dream of mine, but in my area I would only do it if I could own the building. And then... there's the problem that I don't like interruptions... ahhh, but the dream lingers on...</p>

<p>I'm thinking if he's been doing this for 10 years and does not have a laptop - he probably doesn't want a laptop. silly me.</p>

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<p>Craig, good points. I'm not a "heavy" user by any means. I do put up about a dozen photos a day along with all the other stuff I do during a day. with that I have not noticed any depletion of service levels.</p>

<p>Brooks... "simulated disaster recovery"? they do offer a limited size free account... you can go simulate all you want.<br>

but... I looked--> I paid $209 for 2 years of unlimited file back up. (not storage. if you delete a file from your hard drive it gets deleted from the back up. [that's why I have a series of hard drives])they have 3 modes of restoring your system: </p>

<p >1. re install Mozy on new system. and then do a small backup. After that, click on the Mozy icon and select Restore. Select the old date and restore. This the recommended way.</p>

<p >2. you can order DVD's, they deliver them to you.</p>

<p >3. (they don't recommend this way) is Web Restore you have to log on to your account and then select the files there. You will get the links to download your data. In web restore you dont have to install Mozy on your system. Log on to your account and click on the link Restore files to get your data.</p>

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<p >as for comfort levels and cloud back ups... that is all up to the individual. some people wont even vaccinate their kids... so... I'm not going to try to convince anybody of anything. I just thought the off site option should be included in the discussion.</p>

<p>Ilkka - the initial back up will take a lot longer than the rest. how long, of course, will depend on how much you are backing up. so - of course the first one takes longer... but, it works in the back ground and will not hog your computer. I never even notice it anymore. just a little window pops up and tells me how long ago the last back-up was.</p>

<p>and I forgot to mention... it's automatic. it backs up often throughout the day. it's search-able... how easy can it get?</p>

<p>I'm curious why no one has mentioned off-site storage or back-up. I've been using Mozy (which is only back-up... it will only keep back-ups of the files on your hard drives... even if you have a bunch of them linked together) I have an unlimited size account. I dont recall the cost but I would not have done it if it wasn't reasonable, competitive with owning my own equipment, and offered what I thought was a better solution to everything in one place. There are plenty of other similar services out there.</p>

<p>you've heard it before. practice practice practice. practice different equipment. practice different situations. get to know your equipment better than you know your best friends. if you're going to use models, get something out of them. more than just a bored stare. bored stares are distracting.<br>

also - when you're presenting yourself to clients, dont show anything that you're not very proud of or that you would not want to do again. Talented is good. Punctual, polite and talented is even better. good luck. and practice.</p>

<p>Back to the original post... the photos are adequate if average, simple and boring are the goal.</p>

<p>I would suggest that a whole body of work - as Cartier-Bresson's - is much stronger than any individual image. a body of work can reflect an era vs a moment, a larger social space vs a place. sort of like seeing a building and not just a brick. a body of work can be made up of "street photos" but all together is more.<br>

of course, none of this will help OP "get" anything</p>

<p>sidewalk photography. distant cousin to street photography?</p><div></div>

<p>Don't you mean... a man with a bag of groceries walking a weiner dog?</p>

<p>OOF? Please explain... what is OOF? <br>

I come to this site to learn. I shoot photos to learn and to test my equipment skills. I shoot mostly around my house because I see things around my house and I want to show others (of course, family and friends) how rich this environment is... if you see it. Funny thing is, I can spend a week in the house and not notice 2 vases of flowers my wife has put out.! ha!<br>

In testing my equipment skills I've learned my equipment (Canon EOS Rebel Xt) is far more sophisticated than I am, and I enjoy trying my skills as I learn this camera. This has helped me refrain from running out to buy another new camera.<br>

I'm not turning the world of photography on fire. But I can now spend 2 hours sitting in my front yard and if I manage to get a nice shot of a hummingbird taking a bath, I consider that time well spent.<img src="../photo/10898192" alt="" /><br>

but acronyms are slowing me down, so please, again... what is OOF? (thanks)</p>

<p>they are not customers until they have purchased something. until that happens they are potential customers. Lisa is not losing customers. She is apparently confused and upset that the potential customers are not buying what she wants to sell. Maybe at one time she had more success with what she wanted to sell. But time moves on. Things change. Styles. Economics. Technology. All progressing all the time.<br>

Unless you are very unique and can survive on only your reputation, us work-a-day mere mortals would benefit from learning to go with the flow. The alternative is to be left upstream.</p>

<p>perhaps this will help:<br>

http://www.davidpettitphotography.com/David_Pettit_Artist.htm</p>

<p>is it possible for you to tether your camera to your computer when shooting? that would help you manually focus</p>

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<p>Ryan, you didn't ask, but... when you get to your Photoshop, I'd like to recommend you learn and work with the Camera Raw abilities before you start getting into the pixel editing and picture manipulation abilities. You'll find a lot of information about Camera Raw on this and other sites. And I can also recommend LightRoom 2 as both a Camera Raw resource and a library management program. (You'll get a nice discount on the LR2 program if you own or buy Photoshop). of course, this all implies that you should be shooting in Camera Raw.</p>

<p>for what it's worth, I use inks from Media Street and a Niagra IV bulk system on my Epson R1800. I prefer matte papers: Kodak 4 star Premium Photo Paper or Moab Entrada Rag Bright 300. I'm very happy with the prints.<br>

I've never even tried the Epson cartridges. I experience minor clogging issues only if I have not printed for a few days. (I do try to avoid that) and I have not tried printing B&W - so I am of no help there.</p>

<p>I'm just guessing but my guess is... the stock co's want to sell the end customer a file that they will be able to manipulate to their needs. so... holding within their limits would allow that. whereas if you "blow out" a pixel range then the end client would be "stuck" with that. </p>

<p>the photographers at my daughters wedding did a bang up job. The main guy, his second (wife) and the third assistant. They divided the workload up before and each knew what they needed to do. <br>

Before the wedding they split up to cover the "behind the scene" scenes individually. Bridal party prep, etc. At the facility, the main guy did the set pieces with the wedding party (groups shots, family shots, etc), what the second (his wife) did was kind of cool and surprised me. She simply stood about 60 degrees off to the side and shot the same scenes but with an enitirely different angle - and with a more casual, off camera look to them. meanwhile, the third guy went about the facility and took "detail" shots of the cake, table settings, flowers, etc, and when that was done he acted as assistant to the others.<br>

The only thing they did not do was get shots of friends and family that were not in the wedding party. We had people we rarely see, some traveled thousands of miles... and not a single picture of them. Grrrrrrrr.<br>

I would be sure all the photographers and customers know beforehand exactly what to shoot and who shoots what.</p>