At 05:41 AM 8/2/2009, you wrote:
To bad, I know what ya mean about promises to buy later. You can forget it. Like any business on the move, ya got to strike while the iron's hot.
You got that right, although I AM getting some orders from my website and they may have been people that I talked to about 'em at the track. But talks about, picky, picky, picky! Jeeze. I decided I'd never shoot things like weddings cuz I'd prolly end up shootin 'em with a gun...most likely target: mother of the bride.
But some of these folks are just as bad. "Can't you crop it differently?" Answer, "Yes, but then the car would disappear." Q: "Do you have any photos of [fill in the blank] angle" A: "I sent you contact sheets of all the photos I had. Did you see any there?" Q: "Can you make it look like I'm going real fast?" A: "Sure. I'll just blur the whole damned thing to incomprehensibility and then you can tell people that you had just gone to warp speed." And so on. I'm doing some for one guy...a Porsche owner today...and if he gives me any more shit after I send him the samples of the prepped images, I'll tell him that I can't give him what he wants and he otta find someone else with photos of his car...I already mentioned that there were others (and provided email addresses for 'em) but he still wants previews of the print files even though I sent him contact sheets.
I am sure you will never forget the ink again, maybe your hat, but never the ink.
I think you got that right, too.
When you first told us about making the prints right in your truck, I thought what an excellent idea. You should have made a killing with that (got air) shot.
Boo, wah. I made a 20x30 collage of the different angles of that car, as well as editing that shot in poster size.
Oh well, no sense crying over spilled milk.
Ooops.
Tomorrow is another day, and another photo shoot. []
Thank God it isn't. I've got one cruise nite before I leave for the salt flats on Friday. I was thinking of skipping it, but I wanna take some of my special effects prints with me and see if I can peddle them. There was a guy doing the same thing and asking $50 for an 12x18. (I sell 11x14s for $25) Normally I wouldn't compete with someone...except he's a real jerk and made some very nasty comments about one of my fellow photographers and friends, so I'm doing my best (as is my friend) to reproduce his "secret recipe" photos and sell 'em at our regular prices. We may be able to run him off. It's a real long story...you can read his rant here: http://web.me.com/davidkimballdavis/KrawdaddyMagazine/Picture_vs_Photograph.html and his attempt at making his one-man shop (with help from his wife) look like a big time operation: http://web.me.com/davidkimballdavis/KrawdaddyMagazine/Staff.html Check out some of his prior commissions. LOL!
Note his whine about his failing health. He seems to be in a hell of a lot better shape than me. But I don't whine about my health problems when I'm selling photos. He's just a jerk. Sorry for the rant.
PS: I feel that there is still a market for that photo among it's own team members. If I were on that team I would love to show that shot to others. Worth approaching them at next race with copies in hand. Unless they bought what ya had.[]
I could have sold a print to every single team member. I DID approach them and they all wanted the one print I had. But I'd already committed to sell it to the first guy who saw it...a previous customer and I told 'em that when I tell someone something, I do my best to keep my word. I gave 'em all business cards, but like you say, it's a "strike while the iron is hot" thing. They're impulse purchases and after that immediate impulse passes, it's hard to recapture it.
All in all, sounds like a blast, and having fun.
Yep. It beats workin for a living. It's much harder. LOL!Funny thing: I ALMOST pulled the trigger and bought a backup printer the night before. But I rationalized that I'd have a hard time finding space for it along with all the other stuff I'm gonna be taking to the salt flats. The voice in my head kept after me, so I just bought one on eBay for $219 with free shipping, although I asked for a quote on 2nd day air shipping so I'll have it in time.
Live and learn, huh? I've had one hell of a learning experience so far this summer and it seems like it ain't nearly over.
Btw...that voice in yer head that says "go to the track, take pictures and make money"...I think you otta listen to it. Everybody otta be able to spend days at a time at the track to make a few bucks. Besides...think of all the money you could spend on cameras and printers. :) And all the difficult customers you could deal with. But yer from New York. You'd love it. (Except for the high desert sun) You could probably insult the jerks 18 different ways before they even knew they'd be insulted. Maybe I otta hire you as my front man. I'd give you 50 percent of the take. 'Course 50 percent of almost nothing is still almost nothing, but you'd sure have fun with the arrogant Corvette and Porsche owners.
Btw...and seriously...I'm very happy for ya that yer retired and I hope that you can enjoy each and every day of it to the fullest. I know the moving thing's gonna be a pain (take that $1900 option...it's a frikkin bargain to have someone else do the work) but when ya get settled in yer new place, I hope you can find so many fun things to do that you'll wonder how you ever found time to work in the first place...and love every minute of it. Ya might even pick that guitar back up...or maybe a camera, yanno?
Ray
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