Mall portrait studios?
John Harper
Wanted" sign in the Portraits R Us or whatever it
was called. They are evidently hiring people off the
street with no training in photography and putting
them behind an RB-67. The sign said something about
"we'll train you".
I'm just an amateur myself but have always been under
the impression that a more formal method of training
was usually the norm for proffesional photogs. Can any
of you pros shed some light on this? Is this the coming
trend in proffesional portrait photography?
Just curious,
--
John Harper AA5YX/2
YashicaMat 124G Info Page: http://home.att.net/~j..harper
John Stewart
high, they probably can get by. The need to interact with people would be
valuable.
But it is a sad state of affairs. And, of course, there will be people with
special photographic needs that will tax the "talent" of the trainee.
But frankly, I'm an amatuer hack and can do some good portraits! ;)
John
John Harper wrote in message <3606E4...@att.net>...
Joe McCary - Photo Response
John Harper wrote in message <3606E4...@att.net>...
>I was walking through a mall today and saw a "Help
>Wanted" sign in the Portraits R Us or whatever it
>was called. They are evidently hiring people off the
>street with no training in photography and putting
>them behind an RB-67. The sign said something about
>"we'll train you".
You get what you pay for. These photo studios are not offering high
quality. they are offering fast and cheap.
I learned several years ago that in the photography business you can offer 3
possible aspects to your business: you can offer Fast service; Cheap costs;
high quality. In almost all instances as a professional I can offer any 2
of the 3 BUT now all three. If you need it fast and cheap well, you were
warned. If you need it fast and high quality you will have to pay and if
you want it cheap and high quality don't think it will be ready soon.
These studios offer cheap and fast and make no claims about quality. I
would venture to guess the best time to go in is when they have hired some
local teenage kid with some photography interests, he/she may have some
talent and not want to spend their time flipping burgers.
Joe McCary
Photo Response
http://www.erols.com/mccary
mcc...@erols.com
David-M
>
> I was walking through a mall today and saw a "Help
> Wanted" sign in the Portraits R Us or whatever it
> was called. They are evidently hiring people off the
> street with no training in photography and putting
> them behind an RB-67. The sign said something about
> "we'll train you".
>
> the impression that a more formal method of training
> was usually the norm for proffesional photogs. Can any
> of you pros shed some light on this? Is this the coming
> trend in proffesional portrait photography?
>
It is following the trend of car-washes and fast-food.
Its all about economics, hire the cheapest help possible (like McDonalds
etc.), and maximize throughput (locatiuons in busy malls).
Willis B. Boyce
>Yes it is the future of photography.
>It is following the trend of car-washes and fast-food.
>Its all about economics, hire the cheapest help possible (like McDonalds
>etc.), and maximize throughput (locatiuons in busy malls).
Oh come on, it's not any sort of trend. It's always been this way. A
friend of mine had a job shooting portraits at Sears (or maybe it was
K-Mart) when he was in high school. This was ten years ago. For as
long as photography has existed, there has been a market for cheap
photographs. You can hardly fault a studio (whether a mom and pop
place or part of a nationwide chain) for providing what the customer
wants. Cheap photographs imply a cheap photographer. That's all
there is to it.
Willis
Peter Mikalajunas
Well, the tradition goes back further than 10 years. Actually, it goes back to
at least the 1840's in the US. Some of the most famous 19th photographers
hardly ever touched a camera themselves. A couple of examples that I can think
of are Napoleon Sarony and Matthew Brady. The actual photographers where
referred to as "operators". During the American Civil War, Brady equiped
something like 11 portable studios (wagons) and had them roaming the country.
Sarony would sit in his office and paint watercolors and talk about how much he
hated photography.
The typical studio had a saloon on the first floor, where patrons could purchase
images of the famous, exotic and bizarre. The second floor was the studio,
equiped with skylight. Later as flash powder came into use, studio's would
advertise it's use by noting that you didn't have to wait for a sunny day.
There is at least one account I know of that chronicles a daguerreotype studio
in New York city. A large percentage of the dag's where simply trashed, because
they were working so fast, no one bothered to check their own work. The
resulting images where useless. The patrons still had to pay, by the way,
results were not guaranteed.
Peter Mikalajunas
Victorian Photo
http://www.xnet.com/~kd9fb/vicpic/
bills
fir...@my-dejanews.com
> >street with no training in photography and putting
> >them behind an RB-67. The sign said something about
> >"we'll train you".
> You get what you pay for. These photo studios are not offering high
> quality. they are offering fast and cheap.
> would venture to guess the best time to go in is when they have hired some
> local teenage kid with some photography interests, he/she may have some
> talent and not want to spend their time flipping burgers.
I'm making a statement about the situation I've seen I recognize that it is
likely not the case though out this market niche..
I've got a friend who worked her last year of high school and is working at
one of these places on her way thru college. In her paticular situation the
the company puts alot of weight on people skills and they do train alot on
posing. Lighting is pretty much preset. They have books of sample poses which
are up dated every few months with the the companies flavor of the month.
Also the managers pass good shots taken by employees around to different
stores to give recognition and encourge the flow of ideas. I don't know that
this is the best kind of training for an aspiring photographer but I think
there is alot to be said for exposing alot of film and seeing the result
every day. The job has also given her accesss to equipment that she would
never hope to touch other wise.
I agree that you get what you pay for. You definitely don't see a ton of
super creative or orignal ideas coming out of these places, but (from what
I've seen) you do generally get well exposed smiling photos of the
baby/son/daughter ect.. There is definitely a spot in the market for these
places. It seems like lots of photographers forget that most people consider
$50 for a picture alot of money.
Joe
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Russell Heath
take set shots in set poses with very little varence. It is not about
being a pro photographer but a camera operator.
John Harper wrote:
> I was walking through a mall today and saw a "Help
> Wanted" sign in the Portraits R Us or whatever it
> was called. They are evidently hiring people off the
> street with no training in photography and putting
> them behind an RB-67. The sign said something about
> "we'll train you".
>
> I'm just an amateur myself but have always been under
> the impression that a more formal method of training
> was usually the norm for proffesional photogs. Can any
> of you pros shed some light on this? Is this the coming
> trend in proffesional portrait photography?
>