Signing Your Photographic Art Work

As photographers each photograph should be considered as works of Art and treated as such.
I am talking today about the signing of your photos so that later on down the road the owner or new owners
 of that art work know who created it.  So many of us have seen the entertainer slapping down the autograph on and 8x10 glossy at a signing event, whether a concert or sci-fi convention or book signing, and their weapon of choice: THE SHARPIE LAUNDRY MARKER.....however the ink inside a Sharpie is loaded with acid that will deteriorate your art works over a period of time........so why waste the time creating a great piece of art only to kill its value down the road with ink containing acid...........
Many years ago I was signing my photos with sharpies also, until I was in an art store and asked one of the workers, that turned out to be an artists herself, what the store carried as I could not find my beloved gold sharpies any longer at wally world or kay mart......and I got a lecture on why I should never sign a work of art with an acid laden pen......so I was introduced to the acid free paint pen by Sanford.....Tha's right the Sharpie company makes an acid free paint marker that really workd great....do read the instructions and do keep the pen inverted with paint tip up.......it will leak if you don't, also do not try to clean the paint tip with a Kleenex like it was a dirty ball point the tip will come out and the seal is ruined and it will work but not like it should or like yiou want it too.
They are kinda pricy ......around $12.00 per pen.....Gold or Silver and you will not find them, or I have not at least, at Hobby Lobby, Michaels or walmart, kamart, office max or depot, sams club........I have onoy found them at Artists supply houses & Blue Print companies,,,,,,,but they carry small amounts of the best of artist supplies also................

As to where to sign the photo itself......I use a rule of thumb so to speak of approx 1 to 1.5 inches from the bottom of the print and the same distance from the right side of the print......that way the print can be matted and framed and my signature is still visible........if I sign the mat I still sign the print.....because the mat can be changed due to decorating tastes of the owner and the signature on the print will still be there......if you only sign the mat and someone changes the mat your signature is gone........all © copyright statements should be on the back.....I now buy lables with the statement on them....again get a label that is acid free......a lot of the address companies will have the acid free labels and yes they are a bit more expensive........but they will stick to 99.9% of all materials used for Photo production, wood, glass, ceramic, metal etc etc..............

Hope this has helped a few of you.

Hiring a Photographer.......Why we charge what we do

So you're looking for a photographer and you sign up for one of the many websites that you can type in yo9ur needs and it gets emailed to thousands of photographers.............across the world.........and the "bids" start trickling in...........so right off the bat you start declining all the idiots that are posting prices of $750.00 and up........You thingk to yourself...I told them it was only a small wedding with only a few close familoy and friends...maybe 50 people......what is up with you high priced photographers.....damn uncle sid said he'd do it for free with his new Canon S90....and most of the pros use canon don't they...........but the over a thousand dollar offers just keep rolling in.............and you keep declining.......here is why those "high" offers are as they are:
using myself as an example.....I have always done my work with the smallest amount of equipment possible....not the cheapest equipment but the least amount....like this:
2- nikon bodies (D300) - new   ~$1900.00 each
1-70-200f2.8 lens -                  ~$1800.00
1-24-70 f2.8 lens-                     ~$1800.00
2 - flash units                               ~$500.00 each
Flash bracket                                  ~$200.00
Memory Cards (not the cheapes nor the most expensive....middle of the road -  ~$80.00 / 8gb card X3
Tripod / w head                            ~$375.00 on the low end that could actually reach $1500
                                                         for line products......but I use what I like not what the media
                                                            tells me I should use..............
Camera bag / case for security not just to carry        $250.00

Equipment insurance for Replacement Value    ~$850.00 / yr
Liability, personal injury insurance  usually sold in increments of $1million  ~$750.00 / yr

Indeminty insurance                                        ~$200.00/yr

Computer: run of the mill PC                           ~$600.00
Adobe Photoshop                                             $700.00 / download
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom                              $300.00 / download
Decent 22" Monitor                                            ~$300.00
Monitor Calibrator --decent not high or low         ~$250.00
Vehicle - must be totally reliable .....                            Min. $5000.00
Car insurance                                                    Liability Only  $300/6mo...so X2
_________________________________________________________________________________
Total for the above is...............................................$19015.00 .....if I did my math correctly
and this is with out the rest of what we have to pay for:

Vehicle Maintaince ..........................Hmmmmmmmm............$$$$$
Accountants
Tax Preparers
Equipment maintenance (cameras must be periodiaclly cleaned and calibrated especially digital cameras, computers must be maintained with virus protection and cleaned also or they stop working)
assistants and 2nd shooters
insurance on the assistants and 2nd shooters...............          
  Websites for online portfolios and for clients to be able to make orders for prints from the comfort of YOUR OWN HOME.............
Weekly or Daily computer back ups to a min of 3 hardrives in at least two off location sites.....in case of total computer crash or main harddrive failure...without the back ups your precious memories could be lost for ever.....................
And yet you grumble and complain about spending a little money for what should be the most important day of YOUR NEW LIVES together.........but yet uncle sid shoots your wedding cuts off heads and most of the pics are too dark or too light (under and over exposed) and are printed at one of the Marts and in 6 months the colors start to shift and your wonderful golden tan is now turing a weird magenta color ........but we still love uncle sid he tried........but if this had happened to a hired photog well then we'd be on the phone with an attorney to sue the pants of that Photogrpaher that ruined our memories.................

Folks there is a reason that we Photographers charge $1500.00 and up for a days work.......for every hour I shoot I spend a lot more in front of the computer processing YOUR MEMORIES 1 image at a time (a wedding usually takes around 40 hours to properly process from raw file to finished jpeg or tiff)......unlike  so and so MART that will take a memory card and load it into the printer that is already set to process and print with presets that are supposed to make decent prints...not great prints........I only use the best processor Printer, the same lab that Printed my film photos and still does my film when i shoot film today........their prints will last upwards of over 100 yrs and then who is gonna care if your wonderful golden tan is turning a little magenta...............unfortunately we cannot sit in front of the computer and do a straight 40 hours on your wedding and then hope another client comes along we must be ready to spend a few hours every day shooting portraits, commercial shoots: whether shooting food for a restaurant or toys or clothes for a local manufacturer or go to another town and shoot the city for a book publisher that saw your work on your website....the camera must keep clicking to keep us even with our bills.................
Hope this helps to explain why we must charge the fees we charge and there are incidentals I have left out............like suits to wear to YOUR wedding.............

Just Realized.............

Just realized that i forgot to upload a ton of photos from the Lex.
project of the Interior of Castle Post....well those won't get into
the book.....damn but I will upload them soon to the Gallery

Lexington Project Gallery Now Open to the Public

I have no idea yet how many photos were used by the publishing company but I have opened up the Gallery to the General Public for viewing and if one wants to purchase a photo please contact me by email with Lexington Project as the subject with photo title or number and the print size wanted and I will with in 72 hours send a reply with price including shipping.

Here is the link to the Lexington Project Gallery............    http://tiny.cc/nqrlz  if it is not clikable then copy and paste it into your browser window.


Thanks for all the views.

Cd's

  

FINALLY ripping all of my cd's to hard drive.....getting ready for a sale....in the near future.