starshooter

<p>You are getting some good ideas/suggestions here. Having been in and out of jobs/studio work/freelance for many years it looks to me that brick-and-mortar studios are an endangered species. I knew a guy who built a very busy studio out of nothing. He was super flexible in what he would do and what he would charge. I think you have to be more so today. I'm so danged old I remember when people looked up to photographers (before my time photogs were given the honorary title "Professor" because they knew so much about chemistry.) Now everybody thinks they can write and take photos thanks to the Big I which will take on anything like the neighborhood doxy. I say good luck.</p>

<p>You're comparing Buicks to Hondas. For a real test you need to shoot one roll of film of the same subject in the same way and develop half in D-76 and the other in Acufine. Showing a photo of a very contrasty subject may make the neg look really swell but if you shoot a "soft" subject the neg may be soft.</p>

<p>A lot of hoity-toity "art" is pure gimmick. Our modern culture, for reasons I find obscure, manufacturers "celebrities" who are famous for merely being famous.<br>

I saw a poster once that sums it all up -- "It is immoral to let suckers keep their money."<br>

Us peasants toiling in the trenches must remember not to get our underwear in a twist over this stuff. Soon the chimp will be back to his regular job as Prime Minister of the country or something.</p>

<p>I looked the camera up on the Ebee thing and I want one. What a camera. If you were in darkest Africa or New Jersey and you ran into a real, live dinosaur, the Bosley C would be what it looked like. It is the 1955 De Soto of the camera world. It doesn't get better than that.</p>

<p>Beautiful camera. I first got a Nikkormat because it made more sense to get a second body that had a light meter than paying through the nose for the ugly prism meter for my Nikon F. It's really a neat camera. The F with the motor drive and the heavy battery pack on the bottom weighed a ton and the Nikkormat seemed featherweight. Aftr 50 years as a pro shooter I finally bought a 50mm f1.4 Nikkor. And so cheap I am embarrassed to say how much. Actually I got it for nothing with a N70 body, all for $20 plus shipping.<br>

The only photo I ever had in Life magazine was shot at f 1.4 on a Nikormat body with a Nikkor 50mm 1.4 lens borrowed from my employer. Love that camera and your copy is a peach.</p>

<p>I think you have a problem presuming that one gallery rejected your work so naturally there's somethig wrong with the people who run the gallery. I find most galleries have a "look" and a "style" based most likely on what they can sell. Not what sells in Manhattan or Paris, or what somebody else sells but what they can sell.<br>

Your photos are okay. But are they really, really, really good? Did you do due deligence in picking out a gallery or did you just pick one because it is down the road?<br>

Two galleries recently accepted my work in hoity toity Palm Springs CA. And frankly they were photographs blown up big from my photojournalism days. I have Elvis and the Beatles and so on. But they are the better examples of photos shot for magazines and newspapers. They were never shot to be "art" although one always tries one's best even under extreme conditions.<br>

Don't be too surprised if many gallery owners don't share your vision. After all, it's you own not theirs and I hope you don't have a McDonald's attitude of "whatever sells is okay.' Even fake pork ribs in a fake sauce.<br>

Se didn't think your art fit her walls and she is probably right. Move on. Did anybody say this business is easy?</p>

<p>Personally I would not knock 4x4cm neg size. I have a photograph of a steam locomotive with tons of emission coming out of the smokestack and it is a really cool pic. I shot it in 1947 when I was a nipper. It's not the size of the pencil it is what you write with it.</p>

<p>I r a country boy myself. If'n I buy a lizard skin-covered camera will it take better pitchers?</p>

<p>This appears to be another Princess Topless law. Recently a dame from Good Ole Britian went topless on a private balcony and some photog came along with a big fat lens and got some big fat photographs and the Royals have their knickers in a twist.<br>

Remember, both Britian and Sweden have queens. The royals do not want the peasants to know how much fun they are having on the public dole (the average bloke's tax money) so they want to punish the messenger, not get their brood to act responsibility.<br>

It is so wicked to take a photo of a pair of Hermans I am sure but what if the prime minister was taking a bribe and a photog got a picture? Or of the same dude was making a deal with terrorists to turn the country over to them? Why, the photog would be a hero (temporarily).<br>

I fear you can expect more dumb laws. Big business and the rich run the world and any voter who thinks differently is not the brightest bulb on the tree.</p>

<p>If you want to be in contnrol of the whole process between loading the film into the camera and viewing the results you have to develop the film yourself. And it's a lot cheaper.</p>

<p>Does this mean I am going to have to replace my Bilora Bella 44? I thought I could keep using it until they stopped making 127 film. Darn.</p>

<p>I was a faithful fan of Spiratone goodies. I could afford them. I remember a 105mm f2.5 preset lens I bought. It was really sharp. Anybody remember preset lenses?. Spiratone at one time sold a camera bag with an alarm in it. Some stranger picks it up and the alarm goes off. Today I'd never put a camera bag down in public with or without the alarm.</p>

<p>Being a pro entails being somewhat paranoid about your gear. You wife has a camera. Is this instantly available when you might need it? I absolutely would not worry about sensor size. Nobody cared what kind of a typewriter Hemingway used to type his stories. The end result is the only important thing. You should have backup lights, cords if you use them, lenses Your job is to get it done, not make excuses.<br>

The best one I ever heard -- this goes back in time -- a photog said the photos would not be forthcoming because the door fell off the darkroom. ANY excuse is as lame as that.</p>

<p>I suppose there are some dumb buyers but there are a lot that are very picky. I have a very nice Minolta SRT 101 which lacks the black plastic I guess thumb-piece on the film advance lever and it annoys me no end. I also bought a Crown Graphic without a back but I just bought one.</p>

<p>I would suggest you sell the Busted Flush to make some long green for your business.</p>

<p>I think I'd tell the kid I had the Vapors and pass on the honor. Or tell 'em to hire a pro photographer who specializes in that kind of photography. My absolute fallback is my Nikon F70. I have a couple of them and a zillion lenses from 19mm to 500mm and a backup F50 and all kinds of strobe units. The only way to shoot a "big event" is to be paranoid about your equipment. Something will fail.</p>

<p>I would not say the camera is ugly. Plain -- yes. Takes nice photos, doesn't it?</p>

<p>I'm not sure it's big town-small town. There are neighborhoods in the big cities where you'll get the stuffings whacked out of you for taking somebody's photo. But then again, I wandered around New York city (Manhattan) with lenses up to 500 mm and never got hassled. (I was taking public transit to Yankee Stadium.) The same is true in some mighty small towns. I think you have to try a few different things to see what works in what location. In one area you might have to announce yourself and your intentions loudly and in another you might want to be a little mouse nobody notices. People are a lot more hip today about photograbbers.</p>

The video shows a sad-funny-pathetic situation but unfortunateloy Big Brother is taking over in a lot of areas of our society.The guard was way over her head but this is how our rights get eroded bit by bit like the Chinese water torture.Taking photographs is such an evil practice isn't it -- like witchcraft and devil worship.

<p>I beleive it was the East German-made 4x4 camera the Hasenpfeffer, a twin lens reflex that had a Russina-made electronic eye between the lenses. It was a large, heavy camera that utilized a nine volt battery and had a film slitter built into the body of the camera for when the shooter wanted to cut off part of a roll of film or slice his way out of East Germany. It took 127 film which you could get localy manufactured with a portrait of Walter Ulbrict in the lower right hand corner.</p>

<p>When I was a young and foolish photographer (1950s-1960s), it seemed manufacturers were trying to peddle the 135mm lens as a sort of kinda telephoto but not too long lens.They sold a lot of them but I preferred 105mm and 200mm lenses. Then I got an assignment to shoot U. S. Open tennis (this was 1970). I found just the right spot to shoot what I liked and a 135mm lens was perfect. The news service I worked for had one, so it worked out well. I do not doubt you can get some great bargains in these lenses right now.</p>

<p>I sure would like to know how many of you guys are enrolled attorneys who specialize in this area of the law. A friend of mine wrote a play about a Samauri warrier trying to teach baseball to another Samauri warrior. Of course, neither man had ever seen the game played. I am reminded of that situation.</p>

<p>Very nice. I like it.</p>

<p>Sounds to me like you need to do a little networking. You must know somebody who knows somebody who can let them know you are not some nutso off the street.</p>

<p>Very few individuals shoot 600-plus really good images in their lifetime. How many of those you say you shot are stunners and how many are ho-hum?</p>