[pure-silver] Re: Fees
- From: "Stein" <rstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:30:15 +0800
Dear Justin,
Just so, Justin.
Uncle Dick is not the world's greatest photographer. This he freely
admits, though some nights the wastepaper bin in the darkroom is not as full
as others....
What I can offer the brides ( And you were correct in saying that they
are all referrals - I do not advertise in either my surgery or my studio. )
is a good basic service with a high proportion of desireable photo records
of the day. Desireable rather than salable - a point that Gianni raised with
the jazz musicians and you touched on with the bike riders. I don't sell
pictures - I sell myself and Igor, and the fact that we are usually
unflappable on the day.
In my food job I deal with pain and disease and blood and little bits of
things that fly off the patients and have to be sponged off the walls. If I
am lucky. Disasters happen right before my very eyes and in many cases
because of my very fingers. I have learned to take it calmly, smile, and
reach around behind me for something sharp. This is very good practise for
weddings.
I can soothe the bride, write the groom's speech, repair the wedding
cake, sponge the motor oil off the flower girl, and still take about 15
rolls of 120 film. My peace of mind comes from my contract with the wedding
couple. It IS with the wedding couple, not their rellies. They pay me direct
and once the payment is made they are in control of their own negs, pics,
copyright, and destiny.
I have been lucky so far in being able to read the personalities of the
wedding couples well enough in advance to see what approach to take on the
day - not all of them respond to the Uncle Dick brand of humour. Some groups
of people, and I would get myself in trouble if I said who, are less
self-assured in themselves and require a stiffier form of address and a more
florid show of dignity on the day. Some religious people are also in this
category, and I have learned to recognise the signs and act accordingly. I
have never actually had to burn a church and slaughter all those who escape
but it has come close on a couple of occasions....
Glad I don't have to earn food money by doing weddings each weekend.
Glad I don't have some of the pressure that I read about in North America on
these occasions. But also glad that I get to go out and play every so
often - particularly if the wedding couple are wise people and make sure
they lay on a little dinner for Igor and I. I hate to have to call Domino's
in the middle of the ceremony.
Uncle Dick
PS* Tonight is the cocktail party to celebrate my 58th birthday and I am
going to appear as Erasmus of Rotterdam. Needless to say I shall be reading
from " In Praise of Folly "....
=============================================================================================================
To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your
account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,)
and unsubscribe from there.
Other related posts:
