[Leica] Confession time!

[Jim at hemenway.com (Jim Hemenway)]

Phong wrote:

> Jim Hemenway wrote:
> 
>>If I get desperate for $$$ and need to do weddings 
>>again, I'll buy a new digital.  Without one, every 
>>wedding is 40-60 hours of work.
> 
> 
> Hi Jim,

Hi Phong:

I didn't mean that doing weddings is demeaning.  It's just that I would 
rather do what I did today.  I drove up the coast as far as Portland 
Head Lighthouse with photography stops along the way beginning at Flo's 
Famous Hot Dogs at Cape Neddick. Penance was a sliced pomodoro and a can 
of tuna in water w/o any mayo for supper. I know that BD loves 
lighthouse photography so I'll have some new shots to show to him.
> 
> Are you saying shooting wedding with film is
> more work than with digital ? Can you elaborate ?  

I've both processed the film myself, (120 and 220) and have brought it 
to the lab when otherwise too busy... that's minor in time or in cost.

> 
> It seems to me that if you shoot negative film, you can
> pretty much leave drop the film at the lab and pretty
> much leave all the post-processing proof work to them.
> Or do you all _all_ processing yourself ?

I do the printing, matting, inserting in "books" myself.  For the last 
few, that included scanning, color correction and printing on an Epson 
2200. After you've spent a lot of time on zillions of proofs, you have 
to go back and print all the keepers. There's your 40+ hours.  Don't 
forget, a wedding with ceremony and reception can be 5-8 hours in 
itself.  The last one for me was 4pm to midnight.

I've never been happy with the print quality from labs for wedding 
photos.  But I guess that I could be convinced that a place like 
http://www.printroom.com/ or the one which Dale D. uses would work also.

I did a couple of digital weddings for brides who didn't have, (or 
didn't want to spend) much money.

These were short, only the ceremony itself with the agent of the 
afterworld, and then the usual formals... but in the church yard rather 
than at the reception. They received only a CR-Rom and were happy. 
Actually, I don't mind doing these.

Jim, "I like weddings as long as I'm a guest" Hemenway

> 
> With digital, you need to do the color correction,
> tonal adjustment, etc., etc. perhaps some sharpening 
> before you can give to a lab to print.  Maybe one day
> of post-processing preparation, or two days if you
> shoot a lot.
> 
> I am shooting a few weddings for real money this year,
> and could either use digital or film (35mm or 6x7,
> the latter mostly for formals).  I leave the choice
> to the clients, with identical pricing for digital
> vs. 35mm film, with a slight premium for the 6x7.
> Interestingly enough all other weddings I booked so 
> far this year (4) all chose films.  That may change,
> as I am introducing a new low-priced digital package:
> I take the money, shoot, give client copy of CD and 
> say bye-bye.  2 to 4 weeks later, I send them a gift
> of a well processed, matted 8x10, so that they can
> realize the minium that could be done the jpg I gave
> them.
> 
> Anyway, what are you and I doing differently that
> it takes you 40-60 hours of work with film ?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> - Phong