Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/28

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Subject: Re: [Leica]plutocrats
From: Five Senses Productions <fls@5senses.com>
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 13:03:28 -0700

Why do you say "one of the country's largest sprinkler watering
system manufacturers"  AND  "this is a huge international
company all have probably heard of" instead of just using the name
of the company?  Just curious......

At 07:23 AM 8/23/98 , you wrote:
>Alan Hull wrote:
>
>> I can't help feeling that standards are falling rapidly and the
>> customer is being cheated.  Donal even mentions one charlaton producing
>> billboards from the 35mm negative.  These must be the ones I see in bus
>> shelters in Sweden.  If you are waiting for the bus it is impossible to
>> even detect form.  You have to stand on the other side of the street.
>
>Alan, probably reproduction, not the original photos.  I fellow I
>mentioned is a fantastic shooter and his billboards look just fine (even
>if they weren't shot with a Leica!).  But content matters here and the
>magic moments he captures would be almost impossible on anything else
>but AF (Canon in his case).
>> 
>> I received a house paint catalogue in the mail, where a photograph of a
>> house in different colours  (photoshop?) had LEANING VERTICALS,  In my
>> opinion this is professional suicide.  They may not realise that there
>> are a lot of hungry 35mm camera operators out there just waiting for
>> technical standards to drop low enough to let them in to the big money.
>
>That one I won't argue with.  Yesterday I got call to bid job to do
>photo for packaging for one of the country's largest sprinkler watering
>system manufacturers.  I bid the job at around $4000 for location
>finding (garden), location fees, model, assistant, stylist, my fees and
>preproduction time and extra plants for foreground that we could
>control.
>
>I spoke later to art director and he said he would do his best to sell
>me.  But he said the last project he did, this client got a bid of $500
>for a brochure cover photo (studio), thought it was way too much and
>negotiated it down to $300.  And in the same conversation asked if the
>art director could redesign this same brochure cover for less than
>$5000!  
>
>No, you counted the zeroes right.
>
>At least it is crystal clear where the value of photography is these
>days.
>
>Can I hang a plant on my back porch and do a quick photo of a hand
>watering it?  Sure, and make about $500 an hour.  But it will be a
>compromise.  Yet the photo they want will be the primary selling tool on
>the packaging on display in stores.  BTW, this is a huge international
>company all have probably heard of.
>
>And no, they don't deserve to have it shot with a Leica.
>
>donal
>
>-- 
>Donal Philby
>San Diego
>http://www.donalphilby.com
>