I have not posted in about 2 weeks for several reasons. First and foremost, I have been back and forth to various locations in Nebraska a few times recently. Assorted academic competitions and awards ceremonies for my daughter as well as end of school year stuff. Her mother and I could not be more proud of all she has accomplished. She is an amazing and inspirational young lady!

I have also been under the weather for longer than I expected. The past few days I have finally said goodbye to my cough and congestion. Often felt like I did when I had pneumonia. Not a fun time. On to bigger and better things.

My daughter was on the track team for her school and was one of the teams 400 runners. She did pretty well considering she had never run the 400 before. Years ago when her mother ran track (also a 400 runner) the 400 was not really considered a sprint or dash race. Current day, the 400 is referred to as the 400 meter dash. The 400 is a unique event in that the runners don’t sprint at full speed nor do they really pace themselves either.

Congratulations to the Buffett Middle School 7th grade track teams for not only winning the girls city championship, but also for capturing the boys title. The girls team showed incredible athleticism and complete domination at their meet. There was no doubt throughout the meet that they would be city champs. Things look very good for them capturing the 8th grade title as well next year. The boys team championship was not decided until the very last event. When the dust settled, the final team totals revealed the boys winning by ONE point. Very exciting. I had a blast taking pictures and cheering. Can’t wait to do it again next year.

Congratulations to the 7th Grade Omaha City Championship Teams!

I took quite a few pics during the track season and below are a few of my favorites.

This is of an 8th grader at my daughter’s school that is an incredible person. I will refer to her as LG. LG is so much more than just an athlete. I met and engaged her father in conversation at one of the school’s musical events. He was an exceptional athlete when he was younger and even played for Iowa State’s football team. LG is an accomplished student and musician as well as an athlete.

As I am a photographer and I do take pictures, I look for subjects that draw my attention. LG drew my attention from the first time I saw her run. She was the only hurdler, male or female, that actually had the form of a hurdler. As is evidenced in the above photo, she has great form. At each of the track meets I attended, I would always take some snaps of LG as she ran. Towards the end of the year, I had several good images so I printed them out and gave them to her. She seemed to like them when she saw them. That made me pleased. She and her sister also thanked me for the pics. That was cool and was all the “payment” I needed. A day or so later, my daughter gave me an envelope that LG had given her to give to me. Inside was a nice thank you card and a handwritten note of thanks from LG. I gotta say that her giving me the card blew me away. Other than a bit of chit-chat when I would see her at track meets, I really don’t know LG. The fact that she went beyond a verbal thanks and took the time to jot a note inside a Thank You card says an awful lot about this young lady. It also says a bunch about her parents as well. LG, if you ever read this, know that you are one of a very few special people and you will be successful at whatever you do and accomplish much in life.

At one of the meets, I was walking around looking for some photo opportunities. I saw the high jump competition going on and wandered over. This young man was clearing the bar by quite a bit on each jump he took. I was drawn in and snapped away. What a display of jumping. He had very good form and I can only imagine that with proper instruction, he may be jumping at the Nebraska State High School Track Meet. He may even win it  and set a new state record in the process.

I really like the speed and motion conveyed in the above photograph. I simply planted my big behind down, set the shutter for a slow capture and took a few snaps. Note that the form of these hurdlers looks nothing like LG’s form in the pic of her above. As I mentioned earlier, I really enjoy photographing track meets. There are so many events and opportunities to shoot. Simply a fun time.

Until next time,

Mark

I ordered the latest version of Photoshop early last week from Adobe’s website. Adobe was offering free shipping on orders and when I got to the Shipping Options section, my options were either via Fed-Ex or USPS. I selected Fed-Ex and was given an approximate date of a bit more than a week away to receive my software. I received an email from Adobe early the next morning telling me my order had shipped. I checked Fed-Ex’s site and was shocked to see my software was scheduled to be delivered the next day. Surely this had to be a mistake. Companies very, very, very rarely do this kind of thing for their customers. I kept checking throughout the day and sure enough, the package was making it’s way to the Big O (Omaha). I received my package at a tad past 10:00 a.m. I excitedly opened the package up and was pleasantly surprised by the packaging Adobe had used to enclose the software. Very nice touch.

Placed the install disk in my Mac and eagerly anticipated the completion. As this was an upgrade, you are asked to enter the serial number of a previous version of Photoshop. Entered said serial number and Install program notifies me it is not a valid number. What? Oh, I must have entered one of the 400 letters and/or numbers incorrectly. It happens. Re-entered serial number very carefully. Same message as before. Try different number from older versions of Photoshop. No luck. I know what I need to do, but dread having to call Customer Service. It never fails when calling any companies customer service. You go through a maze of menus listening for the correct option and associated number on your phones keypad. Sometimes you press “3” or whatever option you are sure will get you to where you need to get to.

Oh no! I didn’t want to speak to someone concerning the best way to get rid of body odor and morning breath. I was sure the nice lady reciting menu options said if I press “2” I will be connected to a tech rep. I am now lost in menu No Man’s Land.  Maybe if I press every button on my phone, it will return me to the main menu. Nice try, but all I have managed to do is hang up the phone accidentally. Back to the beginning to start over completely. I know you understand and have had it happen to you.

I quickly say a prayer and dial. Call is answered before the second ring. OK, looks promising. I get the nice lady and she starts telling me what numbers to press to get where I need to get. I press and start chanting like a Gregorian Monk deep in prayer. “Please allow me to speak with someone whom I can understand, from a country I have heard of. Please allow me to speak with someone whom I can understand…” Over and over again. My chanting is cut short when I hear, “Thank you for calling Adobe Customer Service, this is Steven, how may I help you this morning?”

What? In less than 30 seconds I have navigated the touch-tone menu, been asked to hold, and am now speaking with someone I can understand, and it turns out Steven is in Manila. (I have heard of Manila)  I find this out while just shooting the breeze while he gets my info and what my problem is. I just know Steven is going to shatter my good feeling any moment by telling me I bought the wrong update, or am not able to upgrade at this time, or our phone call will suddenly be terminated.

A quick “Hold these keys down on your keyboard and double click on this section of the input box which will bring up another window. Please enter the follwing number in the data entry box and hit the Enter key.” It works and I have now installed my Photoshop upgrade. “Is there anything else I can help you with, Mark?” Stunned by the rapidness of this problem being solved, I simply say, “No. I am good.” I then ask to speak to his supervisor and let her know how refreshing my Customer Service experience has been and how expertly and efficiently Steven is. She thanks me for my feedback and assures me my comments will be shared with Steven and higher level management. The entire process was a painless two or three minutes in duration.

Wow! Way to go Adobe! I hope I never have to call Adobe again. That way I can always have my memory of great customer service and not risk having it ruined if they blow it next time.

By the way, names have been changed to protect a certain Customer Service Rep so Adobe doesn’t get mad at him for actually being helpful and violating the Customer Service Oath that stipulates that you are to make each and every caller’s life miserable while they are trying get help.

Until next time,

Mark

99.9% of clients are honest and good people. They know I have spent time and put forth effort towards planning, coordinating and capturing images during their photo session. They also know the images don’t magically appear on photo paper and get delivered to them. They know there is work done behind the scenes, such as using Photoshop to really make an image the best it can be. What most people don’t realize is the overwhelming amount of time that is spent ensuring their images are presented to them as near perfection as can be.

When you hire a photographer, most of the fee charged is for time and effort you never see. After a portrait session, or wedding, the photographer often has hundreds or even thousands of images to go through and eliminate the non-keepers. Then further eliminating is done to get rid of images that are very similar or images that don’t truly capture the feel of an event or the theme of a photo-shoot. Each “keeper” image then gets further scrutinized in Photoshop to ensure that eyeglass glare, stray hairs, or any number of other issues are taken care of. Once that is all done, proofs are either printed out or copied to a CD. All of this takes time. Clients see a photographer spend an hour clicking away on their camera, directing them where to stand or sit, how their arms, legs, faces, etc. are to be placed and think that the one hour is what they are paying for. They just don’t know how much other work needs to be done to get them outstanding images and how much time it all takes.

The preceding leads to the following:

As the title of this entry may or may not suggest; there is something on my mind that I will share.

The “PROOF” in this blog entry’s title pertains to photo proofs. I take some photos. Edit out any I feel are no good. Take the good ones, superimpose the word “PROOF” on them, print them out or copy onto a CD and deliver the proofs to client for them to make selections of photos they want to order. Putting “PROOF” on images is a lot like locking your car or house doors: it keeps honest people honest. If someone wants to get into your locked house, they will find a way. Same as if someone wants to take your images and copy them without paying a fee to you, the photographer,  for printing them. No matter how hard I could try to make it for someone to not make copies of my images, if they really wanted to, they could.

The image above has “PROOF” superimposed on it. 99.9% of people see it, know why it is on image, and understand it. They know photographers have to do things like this to eliminate the temptation of clients making copies of images they like, but probably wouldn’t order. Does simply putting “PROOF” on images prevent theft? The truthful answer is simply…No, it doesn’t. Anyone with photo manipulation software and time on their hands could “remove” the “PROOF” text and have an image they could print out on their own printer or take to any number of stores to have copied.

Recently, a client attempted to have copies made of proof-sheets I had given them. I know many of the people who work at the local stores where one could have copies made. I received a call that someone was attempting to have copies made but the store wouldn’t do it because they saw my proof mark and business name. They called me to alert me. Shortly after that I received another call from a different store. Seems my client left one of the proof-sheets in the copier. Store wanted to know what to do with it. To say I was angry would be an understatement. I needed to calm down and think rationally on how to handle situation.

Spoke with my attorney and was advised to contact client and get their side of things. Client said they were making copies of proof-sheets to give to relatives so they could see photos taken and order any they wanted. This is a good client and I believed them. I reminded them that I would be more than happy to make additional sets of proofs for them and asked them to please not make copies in the future. Also reminded them that my images are copyright protected. Truly copyright protected in that I submit & register my images with the U.S. Copyright Office. All is OK, for now.

As an off topic subject, I have been asked why different photographers charge vastly different prices for their images. The answer follows.

One photographer may charge a sitting fee and then sell their prints cheaper than another photographer that doesn’t have a sitting fee, but makes up for it by charging considerably more for prints. Both methods work. The first photographer wants to be paid for his time and is at peace if client doesn’t order any images. If client does order images, that is like getting free whipped cream and sprinkles on top. He has been compensated upfront and then sells his images for less than what the other photographer does because of it. The second photographer collects no money for any time he spends during the photoshoot. He makes up for this by charging considerable more for his images. If client is going to order lots of prints, photographer #1’s pricing model is best most of the time. If client is going to order only a few prints, photographer #2’s pricing model is best most of the time.

Until next time,

Mark