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May 21, 2009 Leave a comment
Exhibits: February 21-2 • Conferences: February 19-23
PSPA: February 20-22, 2010
Anaheim Convention Center, Southern California, USA
For more details click here.
May 14, 2009 1 Comment
This is a great article that was written by Jenn White. Her & Stan White generously allowed me to re-post it here. It’s a reminder to everyone what a great service we offer as school photographers. It’s something to share with your staff when so they have something to refer to when speaking with parents and schools.
She wrote it in reference to her scrap booking audience on her blog here.
6. Create a Record – the photos are taken the same time, every year. The photos are usually styled similarly – in the fall you get a classic portrait (they do this for the yearbook) and in the spring a casual portrait. When put together over the years they create a nice, cohesive record of your child’s growth and maturation. No need to remember if you took photos at Easter last year, or was it Bobby’s birthday in February?
5. No Fuss – no making an appointment, dragging everybody to the studio, waiting around, sitting through the sales pitch, waiting for your prints to be delivered, going back to the studio to pick them up, and paying. No being hit up over and over again with pitches from the studio to do it again for every season and holiday. Twice a year you get a form, fill it out, and it’s done.
4. Group Pictures – I guarantee you won’t remember that boy who sat behind you that you crushed on for all of fourth grade until you saw him pick his nose. Until you see him in the class picture. Even though many schools do yearbooks, a class photo is a moment in time that is worth saving. If you don’t buy the individual package, at least get the class photo. Can’t get that at your local department store.
3. Cool Stuff – my kids BEG me to get the keychain tags from their class photos. They trade them with friends, collect them, and the grandmas love them. You can order all sorts of gifts and things now through your school photographer, effectively taking care of Christmas, Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day and birthdays with one order! (See #5 No Fuss.)
2. CD with copyright release – this is the only way to go! Digital scrapbookers know that doing it digital is the most frugal way to preserve your memories. When you buy the CD with copyright release, you can take advantage of the 50 free prints at Snapfish to print portraits to put in your Christmas cards, or use the coupon for 10 free prints at Walgreens for the grandparents’ copies. If your school’s photographer does not offer this service, ask for it. Call the company (you may have to get a number from the school) and ask politely. Most photographers would like to have business from you and will accommodate you gladly.
1. Support your School – Do your school pictures seem expensive? Almost all photographers share as much as HALF of the price of the package with the school. It’s a FUNDRAISER! Photographers and schools have done a poor job publicizing this, but your purchase goes to support programs and supplies for YOUR KIDS! A lot better for the waistline than a bakesale! And much more useful than another candle, roll of wrapping paper or tub of cookie dough.
For my buck, school pictures are a great value! So don’t be foolish, be frugal! Support your school, buy the pictures, and digiscrap up a bunch of great memories!
© 2009 Scrappers Workshop – All Rights Reserved. Contact Jenn White at jenn@scrappersworkshop.com for permission to use.
May 13, 2009 5 Comments
One of the most often searched for item on the blog is for the term “Fuji S6”. I am sad to confirm that there will be no further Professional cameras coming from Fuji. The next best thing that will be available is Pro-sumer type cameras.
Fuji has always been great at identifying some of the niche needs of the photography market. It turns out that the S5 camera was too quickly outdated with cameras released by Nikon & Canon. It was an easier market for Fuji when there was only a handful of Digital SLRs available. But it seems like a new digital SLR is released every month now. Cameras have gone the way of anything in technology. As soon as you buy something, it’s already outdated.
Because the S5 camera had the unique feature of the barcode reader interface it remains an ideal camera for the niche of school & sports photographers. However, that niche is too small compared to the broad audience of camera buyers. 99% of the features offered by the S5 was outdated with the Nikon D300, so the general consumer looked past the S5 when shopping for the ‘latest & greatest’ camera. The only thing Fuji could do is drop the price to make it more competitive than the competitors to keep it selling.
So what happens to the barcode capabilities? It looks like it might be built into a Prosumer camera. I have to question out to Fuji right now. I will post what I find out as soon as I receive a response.
I recieved a response from Darin Pepple, my contact at Fuji. Sadly, he said that he is being laid off from Fuji. News has it that there will be other layoffs this week, at Fuji, reaching pretty high up.
January 27, 2009 4 Comments
I enjoy monitoring the search words that lead people to blog. One that comes up often is “Price of PhotoLynx Software”. The prices are not posted on the website on purpose. We build solutions custom to every business, so based on the businesses needs we quote prices.
The unique thing about our pricing model is that the pricing includes support, consulting, and upgrades as they come out. We charge annually for use of the software. This guarantees we will stay in business and be there to continue to earn your business. Every year, we typically introduce major new features into the software. For example, last year we did a huge update to our green screen capabilities. We are continuously adding in support for a lot of behind the scene things like Photo printers, such as the KISS DKS and Kodak’s DP2 software. We strive to keep up with the industry trends, such as multiple crop proofing, composites, and memory mates.
The book pricing is no secret, we give it out at trade shows.
Our Ala Carte Pricing goes like this:
CamLynx – $510
ImageMatch Unlimited – $2060
ProServices – $1030
ProComposites – $1030
RipLynx – $515
Mr. Gray – $140 – One Time
School Days+ Pricing
Capture – $1000
Management – $1400
Render – $500
PDI Pricing
PC Pro $1800 – One Time
PC Event $1200 – One Time
However, keep in mind, we build a solution based on your needs. For instance, for 2 copies of CamLynx, the price goes down by a $100 for each copy for a total of a $200.00 per year savings. So the best thing to do is to give us a call at 760-782-9000 or drop me an email at Michael@PhotoLynx.com. You will always reach a friendly PhotoLynx employee who is here to help you. We will discuss the needs of your bussiness and help you undertand what software you will need. You may download a free trial of the software here.
January 22, 2009 Leave a comment
I often travel for PhotoLynx for trade shows or to visit with clients. If I had to estimate, I would say 25% of my year is spent on the road. I know that this isn’t that much travel as compared to some occupations, but for me it’s just about perfect.
Because I do travel so frequently, often times it becomes routine. I have the same suitcase with the same always stocked travel bags. I can leave a hotel room or rental car without the fear of leaving anything behind because I have it down to such a routine. We always almost always fly SouthWest Airlines, so I know how to be sure to be amongst one of the first to get on the plane for my seat selection.
This week I was out visiting one of our customers in Jacksonville Florida. Everything was very routine up to my last morning coming home. I woke up before my wake up call, so I jumped in the shower and just got ready to catch my plane. While in the shower, my wake up call rang, but I didn’t hear it until I was almost out. I couldn’t make it in time to answer the phone. A few minutes later, I have a knocking at my door. It was security making sure I was alright because I didn’t answer my wake up call. I actually thought that was a great courtesy of the hotel to follow up on a missed wake up call like that.
I flew the short distance from Jacksonville to Tampa, where I had an almost 3 hour layover. I got comfortable it a Chili’s Too and broke out my laptop to prepare for tonight’s user group meeting as I had a long wait before my flight.
An announce came over the P.A. that a plane of troops coming home from Iraq was going to arrive at a gate nearby where I was eating. They encouraged everyone to gather at the gate to welcome the troops home. I wish I had my camera, but there was well over 100 people from the terminal gathered around the gate waiting for the plane to arrive. When the troops came walking into the terminal everyone started clapping and whistling welcoming the troops home. The roar of claps didn’t stop until the very last person was well past the gate. It was nothing like I’ve seen before.
President Obama was just sworn in yesterday. I used to pay close attention to politics, but I have been avoiding the news over the last few years because it was always so depressing. It’s a refreshing change to see everyone so optimistic. I can feel it all around that nearly everyone is anxious to see what difference a new president can bring. This welcoming home of the troops is hopefully a sign of whats to come.
April 15, 2008 1 Comment
What do you think of when you hear about paperless photographic products?
When I used to think about paperless photographic products, I envision images written to a CD which are distributed to the client. Instead of paper proofs, the client would receive a CD or view their images online where they could place an order for paper products. Maybe there would be an electronic album, or a way to save your images on “My Space” or as a screen saver on your computer or cell phone. Paperless to me meant that the image is displayed through some sort of an electronic medium such as a computer, Ipod, digital picture frame, television, pda, or even on a watch.
This past week I visited with several photography companies. The secret to their success is my new definition of paperless photographic products. Based on my visits, my definition of paperless has changed. To me a paperless photographic product means “Any photographic product that a consumer can not produce themselves.” This definition still includes everything that I thought of as a paperless product in the past, but is now expanded into other products such as T-shirts, mouse pads, key chains, pens, magnets, wall calendars, blankets, back packs, plaques, wall hooks, and even baseball bats. All products with images printed on them, but would be difficult for parents to produce themselves on an ink jet printer or through Walmart or Costco.
The trend in the school photography business appears to be going paperless. However, not as I had previously envisioned. The physical products, such as a mouse pad or a pen with an image on it is what is helping a savvy School Photography company keep orders and make their order averages higher.
The capabilities to provide these items will be what sets school photography companies apart. For these items to be profitable, they must be produceable in volume through an automated workflow. It isn’t just paper rolling off of the printer any more. The challenge is how are these custom made paperless products produced from the order. Then after they are produced, how do they get married back together for delivery back to the customer? Some of this will never be completely automated, unless Noritsu makes a printer that prints and process right on a baseball bat, or outputs prints that are die cut and laminated.
Keep watching my blog. In the near future, PhotoLynx will have the solution to some of these problems.
April 3, 2008 4 Comments
This post has been removed at the request of a national picture company.
March 26, 2008 2 Comments
I have learned that a great way to keep up with what is going on in photography and the computer industry is through Podcasts. A Podcast is a digital media file distributed on through the Internet. I listen to different personalities speak or discuss the latest technologies. You can find them about any subject, including sewing, cooking, wood working, politics, religion, etc. They can be from 5 minutes long to even a couple of hours long. It’s like listening to a radio program on talk radio. The easiest way to find Podcasts that you may like is through iTunes. It’s a free download from Apple and you don’t need an iPod to use it.
When I first heard about podcasting, I thought I needed an Ipod to listen to them. I didn’t own an Ipod as I have a really cool Omnifi mp3 player installed in my car. It is a hard drive based mp3 player that has a head unit controller much like a regular car stereo. It will synchronize each night with my computer wirelessly while my car is parked in the garage. Whatever tunes I add to my computer automatically gets sent to my car.
I thought it would be really cool if I could upload Podcasts to my computer and have them synchronized to my car each night so I have something to listen to for my commute to and from work. When I started checking into Podcasting, I was happy to learn that there were basically two types of Podcasts. One type contains video, but the audio Podcasts is just an mp3. Any mp3 player, or even your computer will play the audio version. Some people prefer to call them “NetCasts” as not to confuse people into thinking that they need a Ipod to play them. But, even the Zune, an mp3 player by Microsoft, calls them Podcasts on the Zune interface.
I can use free software such as Juice to automatically download the Podcasts I subscribe to as they are published to the Internet. It does not cost me a thing to receive these Podcasts. So now each morning, I wake up with a fresh set of Podcasts that have been downloaded automatically to my car over night.
Of course, Podcasts will work on an Ipod. Most Podcasters make the video formatted for the Ipod, but it can be played on your computer or a device such as Apple TV as well.
Some of my favorite Poscasts are from Leo Laporte. You can find his podcasts at twit.tv. Most of his Podcats center around technology. But, he has a couple, including Munchcast cast and Jumping Monkeys, that are not technology based. My favorite programs of his are called TWIT and Windows Weekly.
There are other great PosCasts I recommend also:
Photography related:
TWIP (This week in Photo)
Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor
Technology Related:
Geek Brief
Diggnation
TekZilla
DLTV
March 24, 2008 Leave a comment
I was just checking out the statistics for the PhotoLynx website and noticed something very cool. One of the highest number of links to the PhotoLynx website was coming from FujiFilm USA. I followed the link over and sure enough, FujiFilm has a link over to the PhotoLynx website.Go check it out!
School Photographer's Resource Center by PhotoLynx 