Dear friends, I can't think of a better group to share a "refreshed" photographic purpose, and ask for advise on gear needed.
Reason for a "New Purpose": after a long and relatively successful career as an ad man, and 15+ years shooting commercial advertising images, weddings and portraits, I've decided to more fully retire. A working retirement to be precise.
Advertising photography has all but evaporated in my area, and I sincerely believe what remains is best left to those needing to feed their families without competing with a "part-timer" retired person with no overhead to speak of. Weddings have become cut throat with the combination of the economic down-turn and influx of those willing to shoot at cut rate pricing. This is not to say that weddings aren't a viable source of purpose and income. However it requires a major investment in marketing time and capital, and anyone who has shot a wedding can grasp how physically taxing it can be ... not something I relish as I ease into retirement age. I will still shoot weddings, but far more selectively.
Letting go of all this to some degree or another leaves me with less purpose ... and purpose has always been the fuel for me. So I began the search for a renewed photographic focus.
Friends have urged teaching. I especially could be valuable in teaching advertising photography because of my ad career as art-director through Executive Creative Director on just about every category of product or service ... combined with commercial photographic knowledge. This is relatively rare at the teaching level. Teaching is also viable for wedding photography ... although less so as there are so many free wedding forums and a billion seminars. So, the former is still a possibility, the latter far less so.
But teaching isn't what really interests me ... shooting is. (Teaching more selectively is a possibility).
So, it dawned on me to try something totally different. I live in a small village that is packed with historical homes and quaint life ... the motto for Franklin Village is "The Town That Time Forgot." There is a very active historical preservation society here with a town museum ... and I've decided to volunteer to document Village life and all the historic places here ... and donate the results as art prints, books, and even calendars to help raise funds for the Historical Society. A pure labor of love and way to give back to the community that utilizes both photographic and graphic design talents and skills.
A chief component of that will be doing panoramic photography ... which I've only dabbled in up to now. Sweeping views of the open common areas here as well as historic buildings in context to their current surroundings. Private historic homes, including their current owners in a sort of environmental portrait. All done in the various seasons.
With my soon to be delivered H4D/60, and extensive lens and accessory selection, I'm there except for two components ... true Panoramic gear and a printer able to do relatively large archival prints (my current 3800 cannot do rolls, only 17" X 22"s). The objective is to record as faithfully as possible with as little post manipulation of overlap panos that may alter the minute details at a historical level.
I'm inclined to go with Really Right Stuff for the pano gear, but want to make sure I get the right nodal slide for these bigger cameras and lenses. Advise and alternatives are welcome. Advise regarding the leveling base would also be most appreciated. Can this sort of thing be combined with the HTS/1.5, or is that impossibly complex? Please forgive my ignorance on these specific subjects
Printer: 17" tall panos would probably easily suffice, but 40" or 50" wide would not be to wide. Are there roll papers that are archival? Is roll printing a nightmare or just as easy as sheet? I was thinking the Epson 4990 (SP4900HDR) Designer Edition, that comes with EFI eXpress RIP available for pre-order @ $3,000.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/741507-REG/Epson_SP4900DES_Stylus_Pro_4900_Designer.html
It would be a struggle to place a larger printer in my studio BTW ... although if a bigger printer would be better I could find a way ... But I seriously doubt I need anything taller than 16" or 17" tall for the panos.
Anything else I'm overlooking?
Your thoughts and comments on any of this are most welcome, and many thanks for any insights you can share. :thumbs:
-Marc
Reason for a "New Purpose": after a long and relatively successful career as an ad man, and 15+ years shooting commercial advertising images, weddings and portraits, I've decided to more fully retire. A working retirement to be precise.
Advertising photography has all but evaporated in my area, and I sincerely believe what remains is best left to those needing to feed their families without competing with a "part-timer" retired person with no overhead to speak of. Weddings have become cut throat with the combination of the economic down-turn and influx of those willing to shoot at cut rate pricing. This is not to say that weddings aren't a viable source of purpose and income. However it requires a major investment in marketing time and capital, and anyone who has shot a wedding can grasp how physically taxing it can be ... not something I relish as I ease into retirement age. I will still shoot weddings, but far more selectively.
Letting go of all this to some degree or another leaves me with less purpose ... and purpose has always been the fuel for me. So I began the search for a renewed photographic focus.
Friends have urged teaching. I especially could be valuable in teaching advertising photography because of my ad career as art-director through Executive Creative Director on just about every category of product or service ... combined with commercial photographic knowledge. This is relatively rare at the teaching level. Teaching is also viable for wedding photography ... although less so as there are so many free wedding forums and a billion seminars. So, the former is still a possibility, the latter far less so.
But teaching isn't what really interests me ... shooting is. (Teaching more selectively is a possibility).
So, it dawned on me to try something totally different. I live in a small village that is packed with historical homes and quaint life ... the motto for Franklin Village is "The Town That Time Forgot." There is a very active historical preservation society here with a town museum ... and I've decided to volunteer to document Village life and all the historic places here ... and donate the results as art prints, books, and even calendars to help raise funds for the Historical Society. A pure labor of love and way to give back to the community that utilizes both photographic and graphic design talents and skills.
A chief component of that will be doing panoramic photography ... which I've only dabbled in up to now. Sweeping views of the open common areas here as well as historic buildings in context to their current surroundings. Private historic homes, including their current owners in a sort of environmental portrait. All done in the various seasons.
With my soon to be delivered H4D/60, and extensive lens and accessory selection, I'm there except for two components ... true Panoramic gear and a printer able to do relatively large archival prints (my current 3800 cannot do rolls, only 17" X 22"s). The objective is to record as faithfully as possible with as little post manipulation of overlap panos that may alter the minute details at a historical level.
I'm inclined to go with Really Right Stuff for the pano gear, but want to make sure I get the right nodal slide for these bigger cameras and lenses. Advise and alternatives are welcome. Advise regarding the leveling base would also be most appreciated. Can this sort of thing be combined with the HTS/1.5, or is that impossibly complex? Please forgive my ignorance on these specific subjects
Printer: 17" tall panos would probably easily suffice, but 40" or 50" wide would not be to wide. Are there roll papers that are archival? Is roll printing a nightmare or just as easy as sheet? I was thinking the Epson 4990 (SP4900HDR) Designer Edition, that comes with EFI eXpress RIP available for pre-order @ $3,000.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/741507-REG/Epson_SP4900DES_Stylus_Pro_4900_Designer.html
It would be a struggle to place a larger printer in my studio BTW ... although if a bigger printer would be better I could find a way ... But I seriously doubt I need anything taller than 16" or 17" tall for the panos.
Anything else I'm overlooking?
Your thoughts and comments on any of this are most welcome, and many thanks for any insights you can share. :thumbs:
-Marc