Congratulations on the quality of the product, Ken, regardless of the
profit. Shucks, if our Washington reps don't get this budget problem
solved, money won't be worth much, anyway. The pictures will be priceless.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Norton" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 2:28 PM
Subject: [OM] Why we do it
>A customer of mine asked me to produce a set (3) of pictures of her
> daughter. One of the shots was previously featured, of the girl on the
> bench, on Zone-10. Anyway, she asked for something really special and
> asked
> for the best possible thing that a couple hundred bucks could provide. As
> she is a really good customer of mine and happens to cut my hair, I
> decided
> to pull out the stops on this one and give her the deal of the year.
> (archiac reference to pulling out all the knobs on a pipe organ).
>
> It took me about an hour to prep the images in Lightroom, and do a tiny
> bit
> of touch up in Picture Window Pro. Hair and zit removal, mostly. Other
> than
> that, the original files only needed cropping and tonal/color adjustment.
> Same general tone/color as is in the zone-10 picture. Then I placed my
> order
> with Millers...
>
> She had requested canvas on stretcher frames, but those would have far
> exceeded the budget. Even my costs would have blown the budget. So, I
> looked
> for some alternatives. Having had prints done with various mounting and
> surface modifications, it finally dawned* on me. Millers offers a bonded
> option. A print is bonded to canvas which is then mounted to a masonite
> backing. My previous trials of this have been good, so I knew it would
> look
> good. But then I also had the hand-painting surface modification done.
> This
> is where a clear acrilic paint is applied by hand with a paint brush to
> the
> image. They don't just slap it on, but actually conform to the the subject
> as though they are actually painting the picture.
>
> So, the three prints arrive. When I open the package up for inspection, I
> knew ahead of time that they were going to look pretty good, but not to
> the
> level that they were. Folks, we're talking pure art. MY jaw was bouncing
> on
> the floor. Granted, the initial pictures were pretty good to begin with
> (grin), but I don't think I've ever produced what I would consider
> "heirloom" quality prints before. These are pictures that
> great-great-grandchildren will probably still have displayed somewhere.
> Simply incredible. Without a doubt, these are the finest prints I've ever
> had done. You really don't know for sure if it's a photograph or a
> painting
> or a painting of a photograph.
>
> OK, so time for delivery. She is speechless and in tears. Reactions like
> this are what we live for. The money is nice, but it's bringing smiles to
> faces and providing them with something so special that makes it all worth
> it.
>
> My costs? Millers was running a 3-day special on the prints, so I saved a
> little money there, but three 10x10 inch, color/density-corrected prints,
> bonded to 10oz canvas, mounted to masonite and hand-painted surface
> modification cost me $128. In a normal retail world, the set would have
> sold
> for no less than $600, but as a friend, I sold them for $200. (she has a
> hair-salon and the images are being displayed there and she gets me tons
> of
> business, besides she's a friend). So, for $70 PROFIT, (I already made
> money
> on the photoshoot itself and zillions of other reprints), we got to
> experience seeing such expression of joy. Shoot, I would have PAID $70 to
> see it.
>
> So, the moral to this story is that even though I should have charged more
> for the prints, we negotiated a final price and I promised to give her the
> best possible outcome for that price. In the end, I always try to keystone
> the prices (2X my costs) and could have if I restricted the print size to
> 8x8". The fact is, my profit margin was enough, considering the amount of
> work I put into it, which wasn't much. I'm doing well enough on this
> shoot,
> the loss of a few bucks is nothing to worry about.
>
> The original images were taken with the E-1 and Zuiko 35-80. That alone
> should tell you that the pictures are going to be special. :)
>
> AG Schnozz
>
> * And then I had breakfast.
> --
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>
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