@Photolab

Grand adventure last week creating a "Photo Booth" for a school dance as a fund raiser for the Pacific Boy Choir Academy.  It was a big hit. The plan was to sell photo booth tickets at the beginning of the dance, then shoot groups of kids in the "booth" for the first hour. Part 2 of the plan was for me to race down to the lab with the data and print everything and race back to deliver the prints before the end of the dance. We  totally pulled it off.

I set up my big dark grey muslin backdrop on the huge backdrop stand that Bryan kindly offered me. Bryan's a staff technician at Photolab and has a gig as a pro photographer on weekends. So, Bryan has every sort of pro photo gear. We used Gareth's Canon 20D (thanks Gareth). 

Chris Kula manned the camera and did a fabulous job! Yeah Chris!

Before the kids arrived we set out costumes and props: funny hats, long gloves, an evening gown or two, leis and hawaiian grass skirts from the Party Warehouse. The costumes ended up being a key part of the success of the event.

The price was right too, I guess. One dollar per person gets you one 4 x 6.

The adventure part of this, for me, was taking the camera card, driving (fast) across town to Photolab, downloading the images from the card into our Noritsu minilab (left running after the lab closed)and printing a ton of 4 x 6s. Oh yeah, and running back across town to deliver the goods. I love this kind of speedy event where you work hard and get the entire job done in a few hours, and make everybody happy.

So fund raiser success. They want to do it again soon and I'm up for it. We think now that the word is out the PhotoBooth will be even more popular next time.

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I've learned a lot over my 20 years of running a retail business. My customers have taught me how to be a good customer. And thanks to some of the most cranky of Berkeley's demanding consumers, I've also got a good handle on how to alienate retail clerks and, surprise, get minimal service. Today I encountered to queen of all hostile outraged customers, who, by the end of an action packed hour, had gotten herself fired. She is no longer welcome to do business with me and my company.

Louise G. called in the morning to complain. Ok, that happens. She said we had been recommended to her but that, "I knew you guys were going to screw up". The problem was we had not returned her camera media cards to her with her order. This is a truely bad thing; something we take quite seriously. "Oh no, that's bad" I told Louise. "Oh no, that's bad." she mocked back at me, "If you think it's so bad then why did you lose them in the first place?" she screamed into my ear. Nice.

In the process of making custom photographs for photographers, the film or media is removed from the order bag as a matter of course. Every order in a lab is separated and then put back together. It's what we do. And our work-flow includes lots of ways to keep from getting things lost or mixed up. We respect Murphy's Law: what can go wrong, will. And occasionally, things go wrong and we lose something. Usually temporarily. When something turns up missing at Photolab, we all drop what we are doing and the whole staff searches. We do this regardless of whether we think the loss was caused by us or not. My policy is that I don't care who lost the item; we just take responsibility and start looking on our end, in the lab. I have found that if you start blaming it is much harder to find lost things.

I described to Louise G. how we had packed her order and where the media cards were placed in her order bag. She said that was the most stupid packing method she had ever heard of (we packed it up in the same way we received it from her). She flew into another tirade because I had implied that she had lost her own stuff. I reassured her that we would find her media. You had better, she reminded me, you had just better.

People seem to forget, when searching for something, that they are not looking for something that no longer exists. The object of their search IS SOMEWHERE. It is sitting there, right now. We just have to find the place where it is.

So Louise G shouted, hissed and generally berated me and my terrible, irresponsible company for nearly one hour, phoning me repeatedly. It was getting extremely hard to stay calm enough to actually do my job. Meanwhile the entire staff was checking the trash cans, floors, the sidewalk, everywhere possible.

Now, you probably have guessed what happened after an hour. Louise G found her missing media cards, right in her studio, packed as I had described. "Oh, heh, we found them," she told me. I was speechless. Just couldn't think of anything at all to say to this poorly-trained pitbull of a customer. I don't really think Louise G was going to pull an apology out of her nasty little hat, but I will never know. "Well then, good bye" was all I could muster before hanging up.

Ok, so I didn't actually fire her to her face. Darn. I should have said "You're going to need to find yourself another lab as well" but I didn't think of that until just now. I can tell you this, because I have worked with the public, that Louise G will be back. I've seen it before. Just like nothing happened. When she does, almost nothing will persude me to take her custom. Except maybe a note from her doctor promising her medication has been adjusted and this will not happen again. I'll have to think about it.

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I have been reading blog posts from another planet. At least it seems so to me.  The discussion circles around questions of etiquette: what to do if you receive an invitation to a child’s birthday party that says “no gifts”.

After reading 70+ posts over a six day period it is revealed that this discussion is really about getting stuff. Or perhaps getting only good stuff. Posters in this discussion don’t want you to choose gifts for their children, don’t want to write thank you notes and don’t really want to bring a gift for your children either. They point out that party gifts are not valued, either by the giver nor the receiver. The honest thing to do, one contributor explains is that: “By saying "no gifts" on an invite, I think you are basically sending the message that your party is a "no bullshit" zone. "This party is really not a plea for gifts, we want you there."

Somehow it’s not that simple. It seems that people still bring gifts to a “no gifts” party. Sometimes the gifts are even displayed. The guest who follows the host’s instructions about what gift they wanted to receive - none, feels embarrassed and even tricked. So, what to do?  “Just this year I got invited to my first "no gifts necessary, we have everything" party. I thought and thought about whether we should bring something because I had the idea that you can't go to a kid's birthday party without a present. I decided to not bring anything, just a card.  When we arrived people were walking in the house with presents and there was a huge pile in the living room. I snuck my card in the pile, but felt bad that we didn't bring anything when everyone else did.”

Party guests attempting to comply with a “no gifts” dictum, aware of the social booby-trap and pressure for political correctness to bring the “right” gift or none at all, might find a creative middle road. “In situations where we feel uncomfortable about coming completely empty-handed to a "no gifts" party, we will bring a personalized homemade pop-up colouring card (usually with some stickers carefully chosen from our collection at home that we think the child will like). They have been very well received by birthday-child and parents alike!”

It’s hard for a guest to get it right. Birthday party hosts have gotten self-righteously outspoken about their rude guests: "I specifically wrote "no presents please" on the invitations to my daughter's birthday party. And I meant it and everyone ignored it, much to my annoyance. The reason I wrote it is because my daughter didn't need or want anything, period.”  Is that so? Really, what is the deal here?

Turns out, parents face issues of control, taste and style that cause them to refuse the kindness of others. I found one poster who described what I think is more honest observation,  “I  know of only one couple who request 'no gifts' and mean it- and they mean it b/c they are seriously anti-consumers who are pro-social justice and pro-environment. The rest of folks who I know who say 'no gifts' are more like me- they'd rather not give up the control they have over deciding what kind of stuff their kids have/wear/play with. and I will admit that that is pretty obnoxious of me- to try and thwart the well- meant intentions of my friends and family members who are kind and generous enough to want to give my children anything, for any reason. to tell someone 'no gifts' because I think their gift will be crappy (in my eyes) is just plain rude, and may end up backfiring."

Maybe "no gifts" actually means "You better bring me something good, or else don't bother".

Parents say they don’t want you to give them more stuff. But it's a trade-off. They also don’t want or just can’t afford to buy more stuff for other people.   “…we simply do not want more toys. Who really needs all those toys? … we can't really buy a gift for every single birthday party…I mean, 20 parties...phew.” 

Ok, I get it. We live in a world of easy access to junk that we use in social situations where we are expected to come up with stuff. The recipients don’t want the stuff and the giver doesn’t really put much thought into it anyway. There are lots of women like those in the blog, young mothers who have babies and are giving first birthday parties, who are simply weary of endless junk and don’t have any place to put it anyway. My question is, why is everybody so uncreative, unsophisticated and self centered?

My dear ladies, is there truly no way you can invite me to a party without directly instructing me on what you DO NOT WANT?  Yes, I do consider that rude. You not only imply you are expecting something from me but you are pretty sure you are not going to like it. And admittedly, I know what you mean. I might just root around in my box of re-giftable gifts and you will end up with that Hillbilly Roadkill Cookbook I got for my wedding. But if we actually know each other a bit well, I might think of something you would enjoy. Mightn’t I?

I just don’t see why you can’t work your way out of this box by yourself. Let’s take three points you might want to ponder:

Hospitality
It’s a party you’re giving, right? Let’s look beyond getting gifts and put the emphasis on hospitality and making an effort to treat your guests to wonderful food, conversation and entertainment. And because you just thought of it, no, this has nothing to do with expense and everything to do with effort.

Quit whining
The charming way to de-emphasize gifts it to stop complaining about these inconsiderate, materialistic gift-giving friends you hang out with and start giving parties that don't require gifts. What? you ask. Yep, I have given many a birthday where birthday is not mentioned on the invitation. We have done a swimming party, a "fancy" tea party, horseback riding party, a fairy party or a baseball party. Then we sing, eat cake and ice cream. After all the main point of a kid birthday is the CAKE, remember? Not the presents.

Thank you notes
Your goal, should you wish to accept it, is to GET a thank you note from a guest; from someone who had a truly great time at a party you gave. There is nearly nothing better than working your butt off to create a great party and getting a hand written note from someone who appreciated what you did. If you have never received such a thank you note, you do not yet understand the value of thank you notes.

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I showed Sony’s ad (in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle) to George at breakfast. He started humming "...on the sunny side of the street"  from the depression era song of the same name. It’s also the approach Sony is taking to its new digital camera for consumers. Their “Smile Shutter technology” refuses to take pictures if the subject is not smiling! Great, I thought, an entire generation of people photographed happy, only happy. Well it makes sense in a way.  If we are in a recession maybe Sony is on to something: sad times, happy memories. I can only hope this technology does not work as advertised or, if it does, that it does not catch on.

Reminds me of nineteenth century photography. You know, the pictures where nobody is smiling. Many people don't know the reason for this: camera film speeds were so slow in those early days of photography that people had to sit still for many seconds or even many minutes to have their portrait taken. Try to hold a real smile for seconds...I know I can't. Minutes, forget it. Technology had a decided effect on portraits in those days. 

Back in the twenty-first century, wedding photographers may just be celebrating this stupid Sony camera. Wedding pros have long had to compete with digital camera toting wedding guests shooting over their shoulders. That is, getting the professional shot “for free”. With the Sony happy-only camera the wedding guests' cameras will stall while the pro captures the tears of the bride’s parents, the couple’s serious faces during the ceremony and all the other real life emotions the professionals work hard to capture.

George wants to know how Smile Shutter technology can be tweaked. He asks me: can the camera be set to recognize the difference between a happy smile and insincere smiles, awkward grins, leers and evil smirks? Or can the camera be set on reverse so that it only captures frowns, or the rude gestures of people who don’t want to be photographed?

The possibilities seem endless. So bring it on Sony. Give us a camera that can do all our thinking and feeling for us. After all, learning to see (or even operating the delete button) seem like just too much work in these dark recessionary days.

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You KNOW you need to have a blog as part of your web site. If you're a photographer doing weddings (especially) or portraiture or events, you want to give potential clients a taste of your work, your style and very importantly your personality. I know I can learn a lot about your style and ability when I see a your portfolio on your web site. But when I want to know what you're like as a person and how you might interact with me as client, THEN I go read your blog.

Lately I see photographers do 3 things to define their unique brand on their blog:

1. The writing is personal, usually in the first person, and often conversational.

2. The posts are spontaneous, or seem so. Similar to an email they seem to be saying: I just got back from this fun shoot and want to share my shots of Jon and Jeremy's engagement portrait.

3. The images are less edited so the client sees your work as process instead of the perfect best shots that go in the portfolio / web site.

Photographers use a blog to show a wider picture of their professional life. If you attend workshops, teach classes, or donate your time for a charity cause, you can blog about it. Blogs are also a good way to promote other people whose work you value, like event planners or makeup artists.

If you're looking for an easy way to blog I recommend posterous.com. It is not only easy to start (no signup, no set up), it stays easy to post to. When you want to be spontaneous:  just email your posts directly to Posterous. Attach photos and mp3s to the email too. You could have a post and pics of Jon and Jeremy's engagement shoot at the beach posted to your blog before you even get back to your studio!

Posterous.com is a 2 month old start up so don't look for lots of bells and whistles just yet. But new features are expected over the summer.

Check out these wedding photographer blogs for ideas

:

http://gertrudeandmabel.blogspot.com/

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