TV SETS

I look at our TV set today, and it’s amazing to me the things that it can do. But that’s because I remember the way TV sets used to be. I remember TV sets as floor standing console models. It was a big TV set. Not the screen, but the furniture that the TV itself was built into. TV sets back then broke down more often in those early days than they do today, and you had to call the TV repairman and he came to your apartment to fix it. He usually fixed it by replacing a vacuum tube or two (the predecessor to the transistors). I remember when there was no color TV, but everybody wanted one, or dreamed of the day when you could buy one. The brand names for TV sets were names like Zenith, Magnavox, or RCA Victor.

I remember when to buy a Japanese made product meant that you were buying something of cheap and inferior quality, so you bought American made products. We had pride in the things we built. Today, Japanese made products are some of the best in the world. They way I remember it, it started when they started to sell transistor radios. Now you have iPods. Boy, things have really changed.

But we made good reliable products. But most TV sets were black and white, and the screens were rather small, so in an effort to make their TV sets better, consumers, my grandfather included, bought a filter that you applied to the TV screen. The filter was multicolored which made the TV set appear to be in color. Also, since the TV screen was not that large, he even purchased a large magnifying glass, which he put in front of the screen in order to make the TV image larger. 

TELEPHONES

I remember that if you wanted a telephone back in the 50’s and 60’s you had to call the phone company and they would deliver and set it up for you. In New York, it was called the Bell Telephone company (known as Ma Bell). There were no push buttons telephone dialers back then, so phones were rotary. You didn’t own your own phone back then, but when phone companies were ordered to divest their company into Baby Bells, you were suddenly able to go to a department store, and you purchase one,  but you had to notify the phone company and let them know. That way you could save money because the phone company would stop charging you for the phone. Today we have portable phones that do so much. Like Apple iPhones, and Blackberries. Why are these things named after fruit?

CAMERAS

I also remember the cameras back then.  I had a Kodak Brownie that used type 128 film. And you got 12 pictures per roll. No more than that. I never used color film back then either. Too expensive. Most of the movies that came out back then were in black and white because of that very fact. Yes, it seemed to me back then that it was a black and white world. In 1963 and 1964, we had the New York World’s Fair in Queens NY. That was about the time that the New York Mets came into existence and Shea Stadium was built close by. I went to the World’s Fair often during those two years (and for a $2 admission fee, why not?) and I shot pictures with my Kodak Brownie in black and white, but I had an 8mm movie camera and I shot movies of the  World’s Fair in color. Black and White 8mm film just wasn’t sold although you could get it if you wanted it.

MOVIE CAMERAS

But I remember too when they had 8mm film. Home movies were exciting to me. I don’t remember who, but someone gave me an  old 8mm camera. The film came in as a double roll of 25 feet for a total length of 50 feet.  50 feet came in at just under 3 minutes total viewing time. Then they figured out how to increase the viewing area by 50 percent without changing the size of the film so that it was still 8mm. And that made the picture look much better.

When the first side ran out, you had to turn the film over to the other side. But since it was film, you had to be careful that you didn’t do it outside in very bright sunlight. I always tried to do it in a darkened room. Today we have it better. We don’t even need to buy a movie camera anymore, or a video camera ether.

All you need is a cell phone.

Edited by Therese Mulligan and David Wooters, this heavy (in more ways than one) volume deals with a history of photography from 1839 to the end of the pre-digital revolution, to which it offers no reference, though the authors must be aware of its dawn from their publication date. –

Heavily illustrated chronological presentation means there are photos on virtually every page and the text refers to most, but often several pages before or after the photo referred to, obliging the reader to constantly flick back and forth through the tome.

Focusing on the work available in the George Eastman collection, many famous photos are inevitably neglected but what remains is well worth a study. Beginning predictably with Daguerre, and moving up to the time of Robert Mapplethorpe, there is a great diversity of imagery on display, from still life, to nudes, to famous slow motion shots of bullets going through apples, and photos taken of the Moon via telescopes.

Joe Rosenthal’s now notoriously faked Flag raising image from Iwo Jima is here given as if it was still the great popular work of propaganda it was presented to be, rather than a controversially faked propaganda image that helped ruin the lives of the men photographed, as shown in Clint Eastwood’s film, Flags Of Our Fathers.

Images that were able to create outrage were used from the earliest times, with Gabriel Harrison’s 1850 image of the Infant Christ carrying his cross to the crucifixion, condensing the nativity and death of Jesus into one and the same image, using a young, false-bearded boy as the model.

A great archive study, with a workmanlike, unexceptional and uncritical text presentation out of joint at times with the images, but for many this is a book to browse through, letting a 1,000 wonderful photos from the American Civil war to the post Vietnam period, speak for themselves.

Arthur Chappell

Kleptomaniacs may no even be aware that they are kleptomaniacs.  They may start stealing little things like paper clips, erasures, pencils, and pens, for no reason at all.  Eventually, they may begin to shoplift for the heck of it. They will walk into a store and try to leave with merchandise that they have not purchased.  For instance, a female shoplifter might pretend that she would like to purchase a dress.  File through racks of clothing, select a dress, try it on, and leave with it, without paying.

Others, may have handbags, pose as if they are shopping, when all they are doing is slipping items into their bags, so that they could leave the store undetected.  It should be borne in mind, that these acts that occur million of times throughout the country only drive up costs for consumers.

Stores have installed electronic monitoring devices at the entrances and on the more expensive garments or items.  Some shoppers come under the watchful eyes of cameras.  It should be remembered though, not all shoplifters are kleptomaniacs.  Some persons might be impulsive.  They see some item, want it, and are not willing to wait until they able to to purchase it.  They may be the poor, may decide that they cannot afford certain items, and the best way to get them is to steal them.  All poor people do not steal though.  Further, there may be those that experience an emotional rush when they steal.  Whatever, the reasons, stealing is bad and it costs society hundreds of millions per year.

It is known that there is white collar crime as well as blue collar.  Most people lament the fact that we mainly hear about blue collar crime, and if a white collar criminal is caught, and he is found guilty, his sentence is generally light as compared to a blue collar worker.  One reason for this is, white collar criminals are able to hire the best defense attorneys to represent them in court.

One thing that is said of kleptomaniacs is that they are hoarders for they generally steal almost anything and keep many items that they do not actually use. 

- – -       

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.”
Mortimer Adler

Does any of you ever felt that you are been watched? Does any of you have ever felt that they are been used? Well congratulations because you are right on that. In fact almost all small cities and big ones have a new technology that let the authorities follow you to almost everywhere. This technology is the cameras that I am sure at some point we can recognize, they are black spheres and in some cases have the typical shape of a camera. But why is this important? Well lets try to get the main points of this as fast as we can.

First of all you have a car? If the answer is yes, do you like to get as fast as you can from your work in downtown to your house? Well I like to drive as fast as I can but unluckily the speed limit always stops me from arriving home before 7 pm. But why I need to follow the speed limit? Well simple, new cameras that have speed limit sensors will let the authorities know when you went above the speed limit and that ability to know where you are also let them know if you are breaking any other law.

Any other reason why the title of this article is “What if Hollywood is not wrong?” ,well simply because now technology have advance so much that any government can get you for just having your cell phone in your pocket. WTF!… Yes your IPhone, blackberry or any other smart phone and some cell phones that are not smart phones have a GPS… you mean that thing I bought last week for more than a 100 dollars is already in my cell phone? Yes it is there my friends, the applications for some cell phones is available and that’s the way they will get you my friend. (THEN SOMEONE WILL SAY, SO I WILL TURN OFF MY CELL PHONE). Okay… why do you want to turn off your cell phone? Its useless to turn it off… as you read, its useless to turn your cell phone off, since the GPS will continue working so if you want to get some privacy just open your cell phone and get out the battery, it’s the best solution for this GPS problem.

Any other problem? Well in fact yes. There is a big probability that you have been in front of this problem all the day without even realizing it. The problem is called TV.

The TV´s advertisements are the best way to get someone to do something. Why? Well the reason this work is because we get like idiots seen our TV all day and in less than an hour we start to get less attention to what we are seen and making this a systematic mechanism. Slowly any small picture that we see will make our subconscious brain get that message (The picture can be shown for a fraction of a second, that will make us ignore it and thing our new LED TV have a great image since the one that is seen this distortion in the signal is our subconscious brain. So in fact if you are addicted to TV, you may be in troubles since advertisements can start making you addicted to some product. 

In the delivery of news, speed is always a sworn enemy of accuracy.

When news of the death of Osama Bin Laden blew hard, of course, the media vying to inform as soon as possible.

Apesnya, this time in the news figures have a similar name-similar. Obama and Osama. The one figure who ordered the assassination mission, which is one more character who was ordered to be killed.

Of course to play on the name wrong and will make the news it became confusing and ridiculous.

In fact, write errors and spelling mistakes that name experienced by local and international media. Mashable Site-error was perpetuated kesealahan funny.

In the news ticker on their site, the BBC reported that Obama had been killed. Yet beneath the big news was clearly view an image of Osama Bin Laden.

On its Web site, CNN.com had announced the news updates that “There is no indication Obama is trying to give up,…”

MSNBC chief Washington correspondent, Norah O ‘Donnel, also accidentally saying that Obama passed through his tweet.

Meanwhile, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, twice made ​​a mistake in his tweet.

In the event, Fox 40 News, penjelasnya writing is clearly wrong: “Obama Bin Laden is Dead.”

A Mistake that was happening in one local TV station.

TV station Fox News, Geraldo Rivera also said that Obama passed away, then rush to fix

In other Fox show, one of the anchor also said Obama died, and then corrected by the other anchor pairs.

I have been following the news and recently came across a story about a young man named Chad Holley, who was 15 at the time, brutalized and beaten by police offices, the very men who are suppose to protect minors and assist them. Now I will admit that even though his lawyer claims his innocents for stealing property, he was convicted of a crime, and that is not good on his part. Though the question remains, were the officers in their right to brutalize a fifteen year old boy for theft? I myself feel that no matter what the crime, physical violence should only be a resort if there is a weapon involved. As a parent I would be outraged, and be demanding that something be done.

When digging further I found that this was not a one time deal. In 2010 a young man named Jordan Miles, age 18, was brutalized by the police as well. Now in the previous story, the young man was suspected of being involved in a criminal act and was charged as so, but this young man was never in trouble, was an honor student, and was on his way to grandma’s house when the incident occurred. So now we have someone who is innocent, yet still got extremely brutalized by people that were suppose to protect him.

I feel that we need a solution to prevent this type of thing from happening. We have all kinds of advanced technology available to us, so my question is why are we not using it? We should be starting programs that require law enforcement to wear cameras on their person when on duty at all times. They should be enforced to the point that we are able to monitor what exactly our law enforcement is doing, and this should be done by our government to insure not only the safety of our citizens from this kind of abuse of the Judaical system, but also to be able to have complete and total evidence as to what happens involving every case that our government tries, so that there is no margin for error. By doing this we are protecting ourselves as citizens, but also the officers who do a good job everyday, and deserve the right to be called upon as a law enforcement officer.

Please feel free to add feedback on how you feel about this or any solutions that you have that could help prevent things like this from happening.

Two real old spies have taken the place over to open the world’s first official spy museum and what you get to see in there will make you gasp in disbelief.  American Peter Earnest, now 68, was for twenty years in charge of clandestine operations for the CIA.  Major General Oleg Kalugin, 67, spent roughly the same amount of time in Russia running foreign agents for the KGB.

They thought it was about time to put a physical face on many of the shadowy myths that surround espionage and have assembled the largest single display of genuine spy gadgetry in the world.  Included in there are over 200 deadly weapons, some even more far-fetched than in the bond movies, as well all kinds of other objects used by professional spies.

The infamous poison-tipped umbrella that was used to kill Bulgarian Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in London in 1978 is displayed in a glass case with the fatal needle in plain view.  Also to be seen is the weapon known as the KGB ‘kiss of death’, a pistol hidden inside a lipstick that could fire a single, deadly bullet.

There is the tan leather glove which also conceals a deadly firearm, whilst an innocent looking cigarette packet from 1939 is equally deceptive in its use. On view are other devices too like the tiny pencils of explosive issued to French resistance fighters in WWII.

Other interesting artifacts are examples of the miniature bugs used to eavesdrop on the target figures. These can be concealed onside plants, cufflinks, clothing and even within a tooth.  Madeleine Albright was once presented with a picture that had a bug concealed within the frame.

Mini cameras are equally easy to hide and so small that they can easily be concealed in watches, cufflinks and even in coat buttons.  You’d be truly staggered at how easy big brother would find it to track your every move without you ever knowing what was going on.

Not that either side is ever completely capable of avoiding being caught out.  When a group of Russian schoolkids presented the US ambassador to Moscow with a two-foot replica of the US seal in the 1940’s nobody thought to test it for bugs.  It was giving away secrets by the cartload for seven years before it was found by chance in 1952.  Spying always was a dirty business.

Of course the modern spy is far more adept at secret monitoring than those of the cold war because new technology makes devices ever smaller and more sensitive.  Today the vibrations of a window pane can give away the conversation being held behind it and computer spying is becoming easier all the time.

Don’t imagine though that James Bond or his American counterpart is a dying breed, far from it.  British secret intelligence is recognized as the best in the world and many US agents train with them.  In a world afraid of global terrorism we need spies more now than we ever did before.

It is as well to remember though that no spy worth his salt would ever want to emulate the James Bond stereotype.  Low profiles and appearing to be mister average are top priorities in the espionage business.  Take a good look at that mysterious guy who lives in your apartment block but is away a lot of the time.  His waters might run deeper than you ever imagined and he could just be watching you.  

During the time of the first World War, sixteen year old Elsie Wright borrowed her fathers camera and returned to the house later with two photographs that clearly pictured her cousin Frances photographed with fairies and herself seen with a Gnome like entity. On seeing the photographic plates developed , Elsies father Arthur who was very familiar with photographic techniques  ( he was in fact one of the first qualified electrical engineers) pronounced the pictures fakes and refused to let the girls use his camera again.                                                                     

   Pictures courtesy of Cottingley Connect.

In 1919 Elsies mother who had always been a firm believer in the authenticity of the  girls pictures attended a meeting of the Theosophical Society who’s discussion for that evening was fairies, after mentioning the photographs to the person sitting next to her Polly Wright was persuaded to forward the negatives to a Mr Edward Gardener a leading Theosophist, Gardner had the photographs examined by leading experts of the time who could find no hint of a fake with the photographs and the amazing pictures soon came to the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the famous author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Conan Doyle had a great interest in the spiritual world and his unshakable belief in  the genuity of the pictures convinced him to write The Coming of The Fairies in 1922 which told the story of the pictures and their implications, however it was an article in The Strand magazine that had really set off the controversy surrounding the pictures, the magazine sold out within days and the public imagination was captured.

Edward Gardener travelled to West Yorkshire and gave the girls new cameras and two dozen secretly marked photographic plates in the hope that they could capture more fairy pictures, the girls would not disappoint within days they had taken three more fairy pictures unmistakeably concrete proof of the existence of fairies, or was it?

 Picture courtesy of Cottingley Connect.

The authenticity of the photographs was discussed and written about many times after 1920, the two girls Elsie and Frances always maintaining the pictures were genuine, that was until 1981 when they finally confessed to The Unexplained magazine that the pictures were fakes, the fairies were cut outs from a book and by using hairpins and thread had been able to pull off their ruse. When asked by Arthur.C.Clarke in 1985 why they had never admitted the hoax, Elsie replied that after fooling the author of Sherlock Holmes they felt it best to keep quiet. Even after admitting the photographic, hoax Frances until her death in 1986, maintained that they really did see fairies in Cottingley Beck and that the fifth photograph was genuine.

It seems amazing now that two schoolgirls were able to fool the scientific community for so long, perhaps it was because some of them wanted to believe, their have been two films made about this story both released in 1997 Fairy Tale: A True Story and Photographing Fairies. Below is the fifth photograph that Frances always claimed was genuine, see what you think.

Next job is to assess the competition in your area. Look in Golden Pages to see how many wedding and portrait photographers there are. Don’t be put off by the number of photographers around. Some are good, some are bad, some are indifferent. Don’t worry about the ones who have a shop and studio in the high street. You are not going to put them out of business. These are the big guys, they will always be there.

Get your mum, wife or girlfriend to visit 2 or 3 of the big photographers. Spin a tale about getting married, have your story well rehearsed, “wedding to be in 9 months time, what packages do they have, how much is the album, etc.  Do get the story right, we haven’t seen the vicar yet but we favour late September,” or have a wedding date in mind, they will want to know.

They are not stupid, they can spot a fake a mile away. They do not give their price list to anyone who asks for it. You can get the same person to pop into the high street portrait photographer and get the same information. How many prints do they supply, for what price, etc., etc.  When you get all the price information together, sort out what are important to you and put them on one side until we begin to talk about what you will charge for your photography.

Next find out in Golden Pages where your suppliers are – items such as mounts, folders, frames, processing, printing, etc. Get their price lists for everything you might want to buy.

Your Photographic Portfolio

Now let’s look at your portfolio! You will need to have some samples of your work to show future customers and I don’t mean shots of mountains or sunsets or your friends at work or on holiday.

The portfolio shots have to be portrait shots or wedding shots. Now since you are not in a position to have assignments of weddings right now, ask around all your friends if they know someone who is getting married soon, like within a few weeks. Ring up the bride-to-be and ask her if she would let you come to the wedding and take some pictures.

Tell her what for and also say that you will not interfere, or get in the way of or upset in any way, the official photographer. Tell her also you will not stay for the reception! Make sure that you don’t. If a professional thinks there is another pro at his wedding, there could be problems, he might just walk off. The bride would not be happy.

So, act as a guest, just one camera, no tripod, let the official photographer do all the setting up, stand close but not on top of him, shoot just after he does. Do not try to shoot at the same time as he does, do not call out for the bride and groom to “look this way”.
The odds of his flash and your flash firing at the exact same time are astronomical but I have experienced it twice, both times at a wedding. The result is that both sets of photos are over-exposed, because there has been a double flash.

When you see his flash, get your shot. Get as many shots as possible, formal and casual. While the photographer is taking shots of the group of bridesmaids, you should take some quick shots – casual ones, loving ones, funny ones of the happy couple or get some shots of the bridegroom and best man acting the fool. Now if you can come away with 8-10 good shots, that look like a progression of wedding shots, then that would be great. Going to two more weddings would be even better.

Just be careful of upsetting the hired photographer. It’s his wedding not yours, even if the bride said yes, it’s still his job on the line not yours. However, at the end of the day you should have at least a dozen good wedding pictures which you can use in the portfolio. Adding some portrait shots to your portfolio will be easier. Ask all your friends (the good looking ones) if they would sit for a free portrait. Do the same with mums and kids until, once again you have 8–10 good shots. Put all these into one album. This is what you will show potential customers.

Basic Price Lists
You change this according to what your suppliers charge you.

As all costs shown here are rough prices, you need to evaluate them against the photographic supplier prices and prices charged in the locality by other photographers so as to achieve the correct balance.

Below is the text and figures for your wedding and portrait price lists that you will need to print off to give to your potential clints.

The Wedding Photography Price List

‘Your Name’  Photography  specialises in providing a stunning visual record of your wedding capturing the energy, fun, emotion and details of the day.

Our modern approach combines mostly informal, relaxed photos of guests and the happy couple along with a few stylish formal group shots. By working closely with you from the moment you book, we are experts in unobtrusively meeting your photographic needs.

Wedding Photography

All prices are in Euros:

1. Attendance from ‘getting ready’ to ‘cutting the cake’: £837.00
2. Attendance for whole day including evening party:    £950.00

These prices include a complete set of 6” x 4” colour proofs.

Print costs:

Size            Print        Mounts    Frames

6”x4”              5.00        2.50           9.99
7”x5”              7.00        3.20         12.99
10”x8””          9.00        4.50         18.99
12”x8”              11.00        6.50         25.99
18”x12”              20.00        8.50         38.99

Traditional Albums

A firm unpadded album with a choice of covers.

12-page album with 24 sides including 24 prints, with a classic embossed border around the perimeter of the cover. Available in Ivory, Burgundy or Black. Prices start at Euros 250
(NB: This depends on what your supplier’s charge you.)
The Portrait Price List

All prices are in Euros:

a)  1 hour portrait session in the studio        £95.00
b)  Additional hour or part hour             £15.00

If a home portrait is required, please add £30.00 to the studio session price to cover transportation and extra time.
Please note: “on location”  means anywhere within 15 km of our studio.

Photographic Prints, Mounts and Frames:

Size            Print            Mounts              Frames
6”x4”              5.00        2.50           9.99
7”x5”              7.00        3.20         12.99
10”x8””          9.00        4.50         18.99
12”x8”              11.00        6.50         25.99
18”x12”              20.00        8.50         38.99

N.B. For the extra costs, price the cost of all sizes of prints, folders, mounts and albums. Now double the prices. That is what you are going to charge for extras.

Remember, the above costs are not fixed, you must determine the supplier cost to you and then double that amount. That is the price you will then charge the client. All the costs can go into your price list, ready to be sent out to prospective clients.

Portrait Photography

We are going to learn how to take portraits, inside and outside. All the portraits you are going to take will be in the client’s own home. The promotion is that the client will be more comfortable in their own home, i.e. “We take your portrait in the comfort of your own home”. The basic set up when you get to the client’s home is as follows. Use the best room regarding daylight. The more light coming through the windows the better.

Using one camera on a tripod, the camera flash and the Metz flash, you should be able to photograph anything. Here is a basic design of your set up on page 22.

This design will work for everything you want to photograph inside a house, including children and pets. You may need to remove pictures from the walls or hang your own backdrop if the walls are cluttered with things. The backdrop is simply a piece of cloth, preferably a dark colour, little or no design on it.

How do you make a backdrop. First find a shop clothes rail, one with wheels on. These are usually about 5ft wide and 6ft high, so you can hang a piece of cloth over the top rail. The whole rail pulls apart for packing up and is not heavy to handle.

Techniques for Portraiture

Portrait Settings

For an adult sitter you will use a 24 or 36 frame roll of film ISO 200. Set the shutter to 1/125 and the aperture to whatever the flash reading indicates on your light meter. You hold it in front of the sitter and fire the shutter and the meter tells you to use 1/125 at F16 or whatever the actual reading is. It is not something you can do without!

One very important point about taking any photograph, portrait, wedding or whatever. Always frame the shot as you would like to see it in print. Don’t stand back and say, I will crop the print later. Do it now, come closer to frame the face, or frame the bride or frame the confirmation.
This way you will not have many items of furniture or whatever, sticking up in the background, always check the frame to make sure there is nothing in the foreground or background that should not be there.

There is nothing worse than a photograph of a woman, man or baby that has a porcelain flying duck just above their head on the wall behind. The background must be checked at all times.

The basic instructions for portrait photography is ‘simplicity’. What most people want is a clean, smiling head shot. Once you have mastered this then you can add a little creativity into the sequence.

One trick I have learnt over the years is that if you spend 30 minutes over a coffee with the sitter, before the shoot, you will learn more about that person than if they just arrive and go straight into the studio. Once you feel you know what makes a person tick, then start shooting.

Inside or outside, you need to show the best side of the sitter. I can’t teach you that, it’s up to you to pull it out of the sitter by getting to know them first. So, add 30 minutes to the total time of the session.

All I can do at this stage is show you how to light a sitter, in the studio or outside.  The earlier illustration  shows the basic  lighting technique for portraiture. Becuae of the very many ways to light or position a sitter it is virtually impossible to show them all in a tutorial like this, you will have learnt the rest in the practical sessions.

Infringement of a Person’s Image

Please remember, regardless of whether someone has booked a portrait in the studio or on location, or you photograph someone in the street – the fact is that you are in breach of their personal protection. If a picture you took were to be used in a newspaper or magazine, or on a poster or leaflet, you could be sued by that person as an infringement of their image.

So what you need is a “model release form” in which the person agrees to you taking the picture and also agrees on where it can be used. This form is essential if you are constantly taking pictures of people. Always have several copies on you when you go out.

The text is shown as follows:

(Photographer’s Name, Address & Tel.No.)

Model Release Form

Model’s Name:……………………………………………………………………………………..

Address……………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………….Tel:……………………

Date(s) of Shoot:………………………………………………………………………………….

Location:…………………………………………………………………………………………….
All Photographs taken by the Photographer, (your name), on the day stated above of the model are for use as:  (tick where applicable)

    1.  Photographer’s own promotional and
         advertising use in all  forms of media.        
    2.  Client’s Brochures/Promotional literature    .
    3.  Advertising for Magazines & Newspapers.       
    4.  General Client Marketing & Promotion.

For the consideration indicated below, I agree that the Photographer and any person, firm or company acting on their behalf or with their consent is entitled to use any images derived from photographs taken of me on the date(s) mentioned above for the purposes described above and in any media.  I also agree that the images may be combined with other images, text and graphics, and may be subject to digital enhancement.

I accept that I will not be entitled to any further payment in respect of  the sale or commercial use of the photographs and that I have no copyright or other intellectual property rights in any of them.  I undertake not to institute proceedings, claims or demands against the Photographer or any third party who lawfully acquires the photographs or images in respect of any usage of the above mentioned photographs.
I agree that all the photographs taken of me, including copyright, negatives and positives, digital images and all proofs and prints shall constitute the absolute property of the Photographer, soley and completely and I hereby release and discharge the Photographer and his licensees and assigns from any liability for claims which I might have based on defamation, invasion of privacy or any personal or proprietary right I might have arising from any use, publication or reproduction of the photographs of me.

Agreed consideration/fee payable to Model:

Euros……………………………………………………………………………………………………

I have read this model release form carefully and fully understand its meaning and implications.

Signed:…………………………………………………………………………………….(Model)
 
…………………………………………………………………………………………… (Witness)

Witness address…………………………………………………………………………………..
If the Model is under 18 years of age, a parent or legal guardian must also sign:

Parent/Guardian:……………………………………………………Date:…………………….

Wedding Photography

I am going to teach you how to take photographs at a wedding and, unlike portraiture, here is one subject matter that I can teach you exactly what to photograph and how to do it.

I will, of course, be teaching you some of the basics of professional wedding photography and all the little tricks of our trade. We will look at how to find customers and make money out of them. We will teach you the part of looking like a professional wedding photographer. If you look like one, then people might believe you are a professional wedding photographer.

So what should you be using, slide film or print film? Well, of course, that depends. Wedding photographers prefer print film because they find it more convenient. Most of them take them back to their studio and process them themselves, presenting the proofs to the bride and groom after they have returned from their honeymoon.

However, I am going to recommend you to drop off your films at a one-hour photo lab, have a cup of coffee and get back a package of finished prints which you can present to the bride and groom as proofs within an hour of taking them, while they are still at the reception.

So, before adding wedding photographer to your list of services, we need to prepare a business plan. Step by step we need to look at how you are going to get the business off the ground.

Now in my opinion, this part of being a photographer who is expecting to make money from his hobby, is probably the most important chapter of all. The more ready you are, the better equipped with all the answers, the more professional you will look. We need at this point to make a list of all the items you will require, it’s not many but it’s critical to have them in place. Put the price information into your business plan. We will look at pricing later. Try to obtain as much information from these photographers as possible. Look on the internet to see what other wedding photographers are doing and what they are offering. Take these prices into account along with all the expenditure you have to spend for the wedding; (These prices are approximate only and will vary from location to location.)

Basic Wedding:  Profit and Loss Costings

Your costings should be done like this:
Example only

Film purchase:                                  10 x £3.00                               £30.00
Film Processing and Proofs:             10 x £9.99                               £99.90
Enlargement prints:                         24 8×6 x £2.99                        £71.76
Wedding album:                              24 pages                                 £65.00
Batteries:                                        8 batteries                               £24.00
Assistant                                         3 hrs @ £15                             £45.00

Total expenditure – one wedding:                                                   £335.66

Please bear in mind that you will most likely receive a free film from the processor so you could save upto £90 on film.

Put all your expenditure on one side of the page and produce a total. You now need to work out your retail price and your profit margins.

To arrive at your own price list, a good formula would be:
(a)  If the total cost of all expenditure is say:                £335.00
(b) We recommend a gross profit margin of 150%        £502.50
(c)  The  price to your clients would be:                        £837.00
(d)  Overheads: (assume 20% of retail cost)                £167.00
(e)  Retail price, minus expenditure and overheads:              £335.00

(f)   Net pre-tax margin – profit – 40%                                    £335.00
At this point you need to know what your overhead costs are. Items such as printing letterheads and business cards, telephone costs and motoring costs. Spread the advertising and printing costs, the telephone costs and any other related overhead costs over a period of one year. Generally speaking the overheads could amount to 20% of your turnover.

N.B. It’s always best to over estimate your overheads in advance.

This is a basic formula that you can follow for any business you are going to engage in. Do the same lists and costs to work out the other packages. Let’s call these packages: Bronzestar Package, Silverstar Package and Goldstar Package.

All of these figures and any other costs I have included in this book are for example only. You must do your own research and costings before reaching your own conclusions. You could include advertising (local newspapers), transportation (petrol costs) and overnight accommodation.
 
Treat my figures as a format example only. On any job I recommend that you must try to make a gross profit of more than 40% of the sale price (cost to bride). That will give you room to change the costs and offer discounts if required. Go on the internet to find out where all your suppliers (films, processors, albums, frames, etc.) are located, if they are near you, pop along to see what they have and what the prices are. If not located near you, ask for a catalogue to be sent to you. Slowly you should be able to draw up a costings chart for all types of packages and sales.

Of course if you live in a good, expensive area then you will charge more. My motto is charge as much as the market will stand, bearing in mind that you want clients either to return or recommend you to friends and family.

The Wedding Order Form

Your customer will likely have shown interest in your service from seeing your leaflets or newspaper adverts. When a client calls and you have explained your service and costings,  you will then set up an appointment for consultation. Explain to the client that it will be necessary for you to visit the bride at her home, so the bride’s mum can be there as well. Explain that you will bring your portfolio to show them your work.

Of course you should look smart when you visit your client-to-be. Don’t wear jeans! Brush your shoes! Be Casual Smart! A suit always looks good.

We are now only days away before you launch yourself onto the unsuspecting public and you now need to worry about organising your legal contracts of service. I say legal  because if anything goes wrong, they will sue you for breach of contract. So it’s important you get the contract right.

This is a document listing exactly what services you will supply, on what date and at what cost.

The Wedding Contract will actually begin with the date of the wedding, the church and address, the reception venue and address plus the names of the bride and groom and their parents, plus the bridesmaids,  best man and ushers. When you arrive at a wedding it is important that you know the names of all the principle players.

It should also contain the telephone (mobile and landline) numbers of: (a) the bridegroom, (b) best man, and (c) the bride’s mum or dad. If anything goes wrong you need to be able to get in touch with someone who might know what’s going on. This contract also contains a list of all the photographs you will take and all the extra photographs the bride and groom or their mums want you to take. This list is your bible for the day. You make sure you take every picture that is required.

Finally the Wedding Contract should clearly state the costings of your service, individual prices for different size prints, folders, albums or frames. The total cost is then worked out and the deposit and later payments finalised and dated.

The delivery section merely states that you are delivering X number of proofs and that these shall all be returned to you with the orders, don’t leave the proofs with the bride, insist on having them back with the orders otherwise there is a small chance that the bride will walk away with the proofs and stick them in the album she purchased at a local store.

I would suggest you have a small rubber stamp made with your name and telephone number on it plus the word – PROOF. Stamp this on the front of each proof photo, not on the bride’s face but up in one corner, in the sky or down against the grass. Either way no one would want to use them.

There should be dates for delivery of final prints and albums and any prints in frames. The contracts printed in part 3 are for you to use in any way required.

Image via Wikipedia

I was recently reading in the Staten Island Advance, the local newspaper for Staten Island, NY that a graffiti artist was caught on camera graphitizing a wall. They published photos showing the attack and within a day the guy was caught and reprimanded to the criminal system.

Its things like this that make me believe that surveillance cameras are good things. They either prevent crime or find the person who has done it. But there are other places where I think security cameras have backfired. For example: The traffic light camera. People learn where they are and are so scared of getting a ticket they stop short, at a yellow light, right before the intersection that a traffic light camera is monitoring. It has caused accidents. And the city doesn’t tell you where these cameras are, so one day, you might not realize, and go through one.  At least in Philadelphia they have to put up signs saying that an intersection is traffic camera enforced. In other cities like NYC they don’t have too. It’s ridiculous too. Say there is a guy on your back bumper trying to make you go faster. In front of you the light is green but because this guy is distracting you go through the light not realizing it has turned red. Now the guy who was on your bumper has come to a stop but you have the ticket, its nuts. It’s not like you can fight a traffic light camera. The only thing you can do is pay it and not go through it again.

This is how cities around the country are making money. They can use their cops elsewhere while the camera does the patrolling. Is this right? Yes and no. Yes, in that if you are stupid enough to go through a red light you should get a ticket. No, in what if a cop, with his cop car lights flashing, and obviously needing to go somewhere, in a hurry, makes you go through the light and then you get a ticket for it? Then that is not right.

I knew someone who was stuck behind a buses stop sign arm with its lights flashing. A cop had his lights flashing and told her to move her car through the stop signal. She did. Then the cop pulls her over and gives her a ticket for doing what he wanted. I mean only in NYC right?

So it goes with traffic light cameras. There is always an excuse. My wife was pregnant. I had to get her to the hospital, ticket. A fire truck needed to pass me, ticket. It was snowing and I had a hard time seeing the lights signals, ticket. The road was full of ice and I slide into the intersection, ticket.

I thought I had heard it all when I heard this one.  I could not see the traffic light because it was blocked by a big bus and I assumed it was still green as I moved through the intersection I started to see it change. I beeped the bus to move but it had pulled into a bus stop and was keeping me in the intersection, ticket.

I have a computer that has a web camera. Do you know how many times I think to myself how do I know someone is not watching me on the thing? I mean if these criminal programmers can come up with viruses and spyware how do we know they are not snooping around on other things too?

So in once sense camera can be a wonderful tool, preventing crime. People can get so used to them, and they just become second nature to drivers or pedestrians. It is when they are abused that the public has to watch out. Remember, big brother is watching.