The Chronicles of One - DPChallenge Forums

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

02/19/2008 09:56:12 AM · #1

FYI this is a shoot off from this thread

Prologue:

I've been taking photographs for a long time (since at least highschool), and sometime about two years ago someone mentioned that I was pretty good and that I could probably make some money from my photography. I listened (first mistake) and set out to do just that. I started out that winter with putting together a small (and crappy I might add) brochure and soliciting my friends and family to do their portraits, etc. that summer I desided of my own accord that I have enough talent to do weddings (second mistake), so I signed up to respond.com and infact was able to book 3 weddings in july of last summer 2 in september and one each in october and december.

The first weddings in july where... interesting... they were low budget affairs, but they gave me a ton of experiance and I even managed not to screw anything up and got some decent (not great) photos from them. the ones in september where even better and october and december even better... so now I have a pretty ok portfolio ( still needs work), some happy brides, and the knowledge that I can atleast hack it with the weddings... that's the hard part. In the meanwhile I had been doing a fair few portrait sessions, and even got a Gig at a few corporate Christmas party doing photobooths, which also served to finance this growing beast in my basement.

so fast forward a few months, and now I'm looking forward to this wedding season. to date I'v already booked more weddings than I did total last year, and I start to think to myself... I can do this, I think if we put enough effort into this I could make the switch from working with a photography side business to full-time photographer. So my wife (who has been a constant support through out all this, and able assistant)and I start to talking... we've got the weddings in the summer and we've got portraits going on aswell, but if we're really going to do it we need some more 'stable income'... what about schools? "Ya" she says, "we could try and get into private schools, and hey you've got something like 40,000 pictures on file, what about the stock sites?" (btw, this is not exactly how the conversation goes...)

so here I am, and to make the story short...er... this thread is meant to chronicle the transition of this "One" from working for the man to working for myself. I'm hoping that it will be an encoragement for anyone that is trying to do the same, and also a place where those with a headstart and have business will post advise (or warnings). Maybe this will even become a spot where we can bounce ideas off eachother and help eachother out... myabe...

so things that I've accomplished so far:
1) Encorporated July 27th, 2007 as Prairie Winds Photography LTD (was operating previously unregistered as Cudjoephotography)
2) signed up with Respond.com a great place for leads
3) signed for with the New York Institute of Photography's course in professional Photography (I can always be better and if I really want to do this, being a good photographer is not enough)
4) renewed my membership for DPC...lol... (best thing I could do for my business :)

Working on:
1) business plan (get it out of my head and onto paper)
2) marketing (word of mouth is good... but marketing will really move us)

Goals:
1) completely book this summer with weddings (april to september weekends = 26 weddings)
2) get a gig with atleast one private school for schoolday photos (did the photos for a school band (110 students) so I've prooven that I can reasonably do atleast that)
3) get financing to get a proper studio space (my basement is good... a proper space would be better)
4) be able to quite my dayjob within 9 months from now)

Well... so here I go... the Chronicles of One...

Message edited by author 2008-02-19 10:06:33.

Shaman

Canon EOS-40D

02/19/2008 11:17:30 AM · #2

Wow - I look forward to reading this as your efforts evolve. Good luck. You're living my ideal.

02/19/2008 11:19:16 AM · #3

Originally posted by Shaman:

Wow - I look forward to reading this as your efforts evolve. Good luck. You're living my ideal.

We'll I'm hoping that this will show that You can too...

02/19/2008 04:33:16 PM · #4

Day 1:

So today my task was to work on our business plan and my wifes task was to start phoning private schools. She's got several possiblilities and I've got... well... nothing... I've learned today that business plans can be incredibly complex beasts, and that I may not really need one unless I'm going to be looking for financing... (which I may be)... so by tomorrow I suspect that

cudjoej (that btw would be my wife) will have several meetings setup and I will still have nothing... not ready to give up on it quite yet, but maybe a rethinking of how indepth I need to go... in the meanwhile I think it's timeot go home and wait for roleover

GO TEAM CANADA

Message edited by author 2008-02-19 16:34:33.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/19/2008 09:08:58 PM · #5

Day 1 Continued:

I thought I'd post this here too for those not following my other threads:

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

Join PPA and get all the info they have!

From what I know...this comes from a couple of years of local PPA membership, seminar attendance and asking lots of questions.

(US numbers here)
The average mom and pop portrait studio does about $200,000 a year in sales. They have Pop photog full time, mom photog usually full time most of hte year, and during the busy season they'll have a couple of more part timers.
Pop photog makes $40,000 a year after all the expenses EXCLUDING the mortgage. That is a problem IMO...but this comes from looking at 6 studios for sale in the US - PA, MD, KS, FLA, and two other states I forget where.

From the big name speakers on tour that run million dollar plus studios (sales wise):
Advertsing is 15 to 20% of your sales. Well, of what you WANT your sales to be. Advertising is the gas pedal that makes the business go - want to go faster? Pour on more gas! Remember, samples are considered advertising.

Cost of Goods Sold, according to some magazine surveys and PPA info is about 20% of sales also. This will vary based on who does your color correction. I do my own and use a cheap lab so my numbers are more like 13%. I pay $1/unit. That can get up to $3/unit if you let the lab do all the work - so that's TRIPLING your costs!

Market research- while you may feel you can shoot $20,000 weddings and average $2400 per HS senior (real numbers for some photographers) unless you have a proven ability to do so, use the numbers that are more representative of your area. For weddings it's easy - 150 to 250 is the range for weddings sizes. So call around to the reception sites and ask how much per plate is a reception. Bride magazine and others say this number should be about 50% of the wedding budget. Photography and videography should be 10% of the wedding budget. that will give you a range for you area.

If you are good as HS seniors, $800 to $1000 average works, $400 to $600 is a more normal average. The stellar high end folks on tour do $1800-2400/ senior, but it's not likely you can start at that level.

Sports leagues - $19/head average and the buy rate varies by age- younger kids' parents buy more than the older ones. So t-ball age might have a 80% buy rate, the pony leaguers 40%.

So, you have 2 of you? Figure in full time pay for each of you. Local average or what you are making now (whatever is greater). If you figure in $5/hour or part time work banks will be leary of loaning money as you're much less likely to succeed.

Gear - here in the US you can depreciate it over 3 years - so figure a payment of 3 years, and budget in repairs and replacements, and allow for growth - Adobe updates their CS stuff often enough you need to budget for it. An editing station (computer, 2 LCDs, tablet, desk, chair, vista, CS3 and misc software) can run from $2500 to $5500 (or more...twin 30" Cinemas is overkill, but hey, do what you can afford!).

Remember to figure in production space (table, etc) for cutting prints, framing, packaging, album assembly, etc. It adds up - a quality rotary print cutter can run $300, framing tools $300 more. Take all the pictures you want - the money, the PROFIT, is in the hard goods (album, prints, frames, etc)

So....
2 people at $40,000 a year each. $6600/month
Rent and utilities at $2500/month
Office furniture for the office, lights, plants, display devices, etc) of $20,000? Divide by 60 (5 years) $330/month
Studio lights, props...sky is the limit here of course, but lets go cheap, you can be creative! $5000 ( 36 months) - 140/month
Camera gear...3 sets of bodies, lights, bags, lenses (2 sets)...$35,000. Could be a lot more, less is really being cheap. I've got $20,000 and I'm one shooter whose travel gear an studio gear are the same thing, and I've not got any 1D bodies or long sports lenses. $1000 a month
Computers, phones, printers (office, not for photos) - 2 editing stations, one office computer, a laptop, the network, backup system, muliti line multi extention phones with voicemail, a couple of office printers...$15,000? Some of this you'll farm out (like the phones) and have to wire the space as well. 4 years (3 or 5? split the difference) $300/month

You also need insurance for the biz. Hire help and you'll need more insurance (workers comp, sexual harrassment, discrimination, etc) $600/year
A sign for the storefront...$5000. $100/month for 4 years will pay for it.

Samples...your work framed on the walls. Frame corners,etc.
Gonna do projection proofing (the ONLY way to do it)- you can use a plasma or projector, but need a nice room. Some do it like a living room and others over a board table. $3000 is the low end for this, 10,000 the high end. And you'll want a fridge and coffee pot for offering your guests a beverage...$6000 over 5 years, $100/month.
And there are LOTS of miscellaneous expenses...the coke and coffee for the clients, napkins, cleaning supplies, office paper - a LOT of them. I spent $3200 at staples last year, and I don't buy all my office supplies there.

So add up the monthly expenses and you've got to bring in $11,000 just to cover the debt and you paychecks.
That's $132,000 a year.
Now you'll need to do $200,000 a year in sales to net that.
20% is advertising ($38,000) and 20% are print/materials costs ($38,000) - that's $76,000 + $132,000.

How to generate $200,000 in sales? Hmm...Lets assume a $800 senior average and $2500 wedding average. How much can you shoot? Figure two full time shooters - one does the weddings (35 is possible) and one shooter can do 5 or 6 seniors on a saturday - a lot more income that a wedding can generate. The senior shooter can also pick up a few other weddings, say 5 in the off season. That's 40 weddings at $2500 per, or $100,000. So you'll need 125 senior sessions also. You'll get other business - families, reunions, babies, pets, etc. Getting a school or sports league is where you start to be profitable - but then you'll almost have to hire help.

With 2000 hours in a year per person, your cost per hour is $50. You cant be 100% efficient (drive time, book keeping, phone consults, computer malfunctions, cleaning the studio, etc all eat into that 4000 hours), figure on charging $100/hour for every hour you shoot at the minimum.

Now the fun part is you won't start out that busy. It may take 4 years to get up to that level of business. Month #1 will still cost $11,000 even if you bring in no sales (assuming you really do pay yourselves full salary). Having a year of expenses in the bank before you open the doors is a really good idea, excluding your paychecks IF you can live without them (wife supports you til you get the business on it's feet for example)

See, that's not so hard, is it?

taddzilla

Canon EOS-7D

02/19/2008 10:37:08 PM · #6

Good luck man. I wish you all the best in this and I look forward to reading this thread.

02/19/2008 11:27:33 PM · #7

More Day 1:

My wife and I (who btw is on mat leave so very little income there) came up with the following over the past several hours. this is based on the assumption that we will have bought in advance many of the things we need (office equipment, computers, etc)

Monthly expenses
- Rent & Utils $3,000
- Office Supplies $500
- My salary $3,000
- Her Salary $1,500 (same pot really in the end so who cares who gets what)
- Part-time help $1,000
- Advertising $1,800
- Insurance $270 (based on what were already paying)
- Printing supplies $1,000 (we'll start by doing our own printing)
- Total $144,840 (just enough o make our heads spin

What we think we can do in a given year (base loosely on what you(

prof_fate) mentioned before, what we do know of the market, and where we're already at

weddings
39 in a year at an average of $1500 (very conservative) $58,000
Portraits
2 a day 5 days a week = 520 sessions x $100/session $52,000
Schools
2 schools/ 300 kids each/ $30/kid (conservative again) $18,000
100 senoirs at $150 each (super conservative) $15,000
Events
Christmas parties etc. $1000 each event $5,000
Total $148,000

so that leaves us with about $3000 to call 'profit' sound about right???

this actually seems doable really... alot of work for sure...but doable...

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

02/21/2008 03:46:44 PM · #8

Day 2:

A slightly new direction yesterday... after crunching the numbers, we've actually decided that this whole proposition is actually more feasable than we thought... so we're going to start moving on in a few stages

1) start buying the equipment we'll need now, which will lessen the lump sum investment when we get a space.
2) begin saving everything else so that we will have a few months opperating costs (including pay for ourselves) when we do get a space
3) finish booking the summer full of weddings (halfway there) and get one or 2 schools in the bag (which will help with the saving.
4) find a space for rent/lease and my wife will man (well woman) that for a while solo while I continue to work a while longe (a few months at most) to keep our reseves high
5) I leave job and take up photography full time...

Timeline... we hope... 9 months to a year...

sound crazy?

mjwood0

Nikon D200

02/21/2008 05:42:11 PM · #9

I'm very interested in how this goes. This is a dream of mine and I'd love to see how it all goes for you.

Have you thought about starting a proper blog for all of this? While I don't want to suggest that DPC isn't a great place to post these tidbits of info, I'm thinking that you could really drum up a proper following!

Either way, I wish you the best of luck and will be patiently following along!

02/21/2008 05:46:39 PM · #10

Originally posted by mjwood0:

not that I wouldn't... but my workplace blocks blog sites... :)

taterbug

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

02/21/2008 06:09:43 PM · #11

Great post. I'm sure a lot of us are very interested in seeing your progress. A great learning experience!
I am curious though, (I'm definitely not trying to 'come down' on you, I honestly just don't know) but is 2 a day for 5 days/wk for portrait sessions a realistic expectation? Sounds high, but like I said, I really don't know at all, just asking, but if so, it sounds very encouraging to me. :-)

02/21/2008 07:06:15 PM · #12

Originally posted by taterbug:

I'm sure that the weekdays will be lower, but the weekends may be higher... so I'm hoping that the average will be around 2/day

02/21/2008 10:24:29 PM · #13

Day 3:

did you know that you can spend over $20,000 on a Mac computer??? I didn't until today... but man.. what a compter!!!!

Specifications

â�¢ Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
â�¢ 8GB (4 x 2GB)
â�¢ Mac Pro RAID Card
â�¢ 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
â�¢ 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
â�¢ 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
â�¢ 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
â�¢ NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB (Stereo 3D, two dual-link DVI)
â�¢ Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
â�¢ Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
â�¢ Two 16x SuperDrives
â�¢ AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
â�¢ Dual Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
â�¢ Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
â�¢ Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
â�¢ Mac OS X Server (10-Client)
â�¢ Xsan 2 included
â�¢ AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

now.. having said that... maybe I need to tone it down just a little bit eh?

02/23/2008 11:24:05 AM · #14

Day 4:

I've been pleasantly surprised as I begin to look for spaces to lease/rent it seems that the boom in our city is slowing down a bit and there are many more places to rent available with means the prices are coming down! so where as I though $3000 plus utils for rent I'm now looking at about $2000 (for 1500 square ft) including utils!!!! for those keeping score at home that means I could be chopping $12,000 off my budget... or I could get a bigger space... :)

ETA: OH and picked up a Wacom board... what a difference!!!

Message edited by author 2008-02-23 11:25:05.

02/27/2008 03:11:53 PM · #15

Week 2:

No updates this week really cause I've been super busy... we have our first meeting with a school that is very interested in having us do their school photo's starting next year... it's very exciting, but in the meanwhile the meetings tomorrow and we have to get all our ducks in a row( work samples, pricelists, contracts, etc) if we get it it also means there's a ton of stuf wee need to do to get prepared. on the plus side it will likely prople our plans to have a studio space forward substantially, because many school will not want to send their kids to some guys house for retakes etc.

We're also going to be getting a slew of new computers over the summer to prepare for having the shop. 1 computer for editing, 1 for the reception area, and 2 laptops to travel with (one for me and the wife). the plus side is that they're frekin' awesome computers.. the down side is that we'll be moving to the MAC system so, we'll have some learning to do.

So heck, wich me luck on the school interview.

BTW we've booked 9 of our wanted 26 for this year, so we're roling along quite nicely I think

02/28/2008 12:43:34 AM · #16

You've got a good start going...now let me take a look at what you got.

Originally posted by Eyesup:

More Day 1:

Monthly expenses
- Rent & Utils $3,000
- Office Supplies $500
- My salary $3,000
- Her Salary $1,500 (same pot really in the end so who cares who gets what)
- Part-time help $1,000
- Advertising $1,800
- Insurance $270 (based on what were already paying)
- Printing supplies $1,000 (we'll start by doing our own printing)
- Total $144,840 (just enough o make our heads spin

Can she work 40 hours a week too? If not, see below and adjust your available hours accordingly.
These numbers are monthly I think? Business and personal bills together? If you're both working in the business figure on health insurance. It can be VERY expensive for a self employed person. $1000/month or more. You have a kid, you NEED health insurance!

Printing..i don't do my own (too costly in materials compared to a lab, fewer products than a lab, takes my time, and I have to buy the printers and provide the space for them, paper, ink, etc). 144k a year, $21k in printing, perhaps more (my costs are 11 to 13%. Industry average is 20%. With you doing the printing, and your low prices (see below) you percentages will be higher - much higher I suspect. You have budgeted in $12,000. WAY low.
Part time help...you can't afford it. Really. You need $120,000 in sales to support an employee. You want you, your wife and a part timer..so you need about $250-300k a year in sales. So say small business experts. And doing payroll takes time.
I dont' see any numbers for education, gear, repairs, postage, office furn, studio furn, professional services (for your taxes if nothing else) and taxes. When you are self employed you still pay income tax, state tax, local tax, and BOTH parts of social security - figure about 30-35% of your gross pay is paid out as taxes. So pay yourself accordingly (more - to compensate for the extra paid in taxes). Yes, you can deduct business expenses from your total sales, but you get paid and you pay taxes on that 'profit'. Incorporting or some such won't matter - the business will pay the other half of social security, plus now you have to pay unemployement insurance too!

How many hours are there in a day? In a job?

Originally posted by Eyesup:

weddings
39 in a year at an average of $1500 (very conservative) $58,000
Portraits
2 a day 5 days a week = 520 sessions x $100/session $52,000
Schools
2 schools/ 300 kids each/ $30/kid (conservative again) $18,000
100 senoirs at $150 each (super conservative) $15,000
Events
Christmas parties etc. $1000 each event $5,000

A wedding, with assistant and album, takes 33 man hours.
A portrait session, 30 minutes of shooting, takes a total of 3 man hour minimum. $30 session fee, or more, and your average sale had better be a hell of a lot more than $70!
A 300 student school will take about 50 manhours (meetings, shooting, editing, package/delivery, retake day, etc)
Seniors...$400 average is bad, $7-800 decent, $1000+ good. What you do and how you sell it makes a HUGE difference. Getting 100 seniors is gonna be a job and a half and then some. I take about 7 man hours per senior and average $675.
Christmas parties, class reunions, etc - figure 2 people to shoot, an hour for meetings, plus delivery, travel, setup...18 hours/event.
Lessee...my hours X your client count=
33x39 weddings, 3 x 520 port sessions, 50 x 2 schools, 7 x 100 seniors, 18 x 5 events give a total of 3,737 hours.

You can work (aka, bill or charge) for that many hours. A full time job at 40 hours a week, with a 2 week vacation, is 2000 hours. You have 2 people, so you have 4000 hours. Seems feasible to work 3737, right? It isn't. You have to do book keeping (some places that can be 1/2 hour a day, but an hour a week is reasonable). You have to do some marketing...that takes time. Even if you farm most most of it out (websites, biz card design, marketing mailings, etc) you still have to manage these things, have meetings, etc. It takes time to plan - look at how much time you're spending now on planning. You need time for computers...upgrading, trying new software, problems of every kind, replacement, and of course - data management (backup!). This can take 2 hours a week no problem.
Training, going to WPPI or anything of that nature - man hour wise it can be 10 days a year X 2 people..160 hours right there!
Samples...you need them, it takes time to make them.
Vendors, placing orders, buying office supplies - it all takes time. Mailling? UPS? Unpacking deliveries. Maintenance of gear, cleaning the studio, etc. More time.
I figure if you can be productive 75% of the time you're doing really well. So you have 3000 hours between you. SO you'll have to reduce your estimated workload by 20-25%. But you've severely underestimated what you need to charge, so redo your numbers and see what you get.

What is your plan if you only get 15 seniors and 27 weddings? What is your plan if you get 45 weddings and 200 seniors?
To shoot a wedding you need X gear. To shoot studio work (and seniors will want this, and with 10 port sessions a WEEK you'll need a studio) you need a lot of different things. Got it? Got enough? Got a budget for more? I spent $180 on props for ONE newborn shoot. OK, my first one. It paid me 1/2 that. A losing proposition, for now. But you get the idea.

You don't need a $12000 computer. Yeah, you'd LIKE one (we all would!). A dual core 3Ghz with dual monitors for editing and all the necessary software. I have 2 computers - one for editing and the old one for backup and other uses. In reality if I sit at the editing station I also use it for everything else - so office is on it, as well as internet, etc. No email, at least I avoided that, and my internet software isn't there either. I do the books with excel, so it's accessiblt everywhere. The two laptops are for sales and events mostly. I don't have a reception area, so no computer there (duh) and i don't do scheduling on the computer.

Figure in phones - multi line and voicemail if you going to be serious about a studio.

My studio space research has led me to realize bank robbery isn't such an evil thing afterall LOL. The building I want is $150,000, plus land and the stuff in side the building. I can get by with about $100k and put it in my backyard. I still can't afford that, so plan C is currently to put 1100 sf over my garage next year - $40,000 to $50,000 is the preliminary estimate. Leasing a similar space for a year runs $10,000 to $24,000 a year, plus remodeling costs, and at the end of the lease I have no value for that outlay. Hence my thoughts of building a studio at my home, and scaling the business accordingly.

How are you planning to finance this endeavour? Is there a payment for that figured into your budget?
What about cashflow? You need enough cash on hand for the slow months - like now. Jan was good to me, but feb's bills have exceeded Feb's income, and that's not including my pay. No cash means bankruptcy - and starting a biz means unknown cashflow - 100 seniors sounds good. My budget called for 20 last year..i got 9 I think. Huge difference in cash between the two.

So far it's interesting reading - keep up the work and let us know how it's going!

Message edited by author 2008-02-28 00:52:05.

02/28/2008 09:41:49 AM · #17

Prof,

Thanks again for you very insiteful response!

So here's what I'm thinking

a) prices for renting where I am are comming down so hopefully by september or so they'll have come down enough to make this even more feasable (granted they'll then start to go back up, but that's another story)

b) we put into the budget some part-time help.. reason being that we know we can't do everything ourselves (we'll we try but... :) that also increaes available manhours

c) yes 100 seniors is a high # and the $150 per low... so I'm hoping that will even out to less student and higher prices in the end.

d) remember I live up here in alberta Canada, very low taxes :)

e) yes my wife can work full time (and has been from home) yes the baby takes time, but she's been doing both really well... and baby (well toddler by then) can come to the shop too :) we'll get him a little digital camera and he can be staff...lol

f) again Canada health care is free, and a good drug plan about $50/month for each of us (baby's cover under us) now don't you wish you lived in Canada?

g) as for money.. our plan is to start by having her run the shop during the day while I remain at my job at least until the new year... that will reduce our budjet signifigantly

h) business and personal stuff are seperate for the most part.

i) as for what we hope to make I took the average of our prices for each segment and then reduced it a bit... rather project on low income and high expences...

j) note to self add professional fees, shows, gear, etc. (thanks) on that same note we're hoping to have bought alot of the things we need beforehand so we're not scrambling later.

I think I'm done witht eh alphbet now :)

02/28/2008 09:42:19 AM · #18

Other expenses to figure in somewhere...

Packaging. Bags, presentation boxes, cd boxes/sleeves, invoices, etc. They only sell such things in quantity, often a quantity that will last you years. For example, I just bought wallet boxes. The minimum quantity was 200 boxes. I bought bags 2 years ago - min quantity was 500. These costs add up, as does the space to store them.

02/28/2008 09:44:28 AM · #19

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

I was looking into bags etc... and yes, I will likely have them for the next forever... granted getting a school could change all that....

Where do you get your bags boxes etc? locally or somewhere on the net?

02/28/2008 03:42:30 PM · #20

I have black 11x14 bags for prints and stuff in general..I forget where I got them.
For 'presentation' and print boxes i use DNL out of cleveland ohio.

02/28/2008 04:23:38 PM · #21

Week 2 Update!!!

We've Booked out first school!!!! 100 kids private elementary!!! of course this just means that we really need to have a studio of some sort so that we don't have kids potentially coming to some guys basement for retakes etc... (not sure that the school administration will like that idea)

so now we're committed to a course and we have to carry it out!!! lots of work to do but in the mean time I'm going to go celebrate my little victory!!!

02/28/2008 08:46:05 PM · #22

You have a 'retake day' at the school.

02/28/2008 10:19:01 PM · #23

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

You have a 'retake day' at the school.

Picture day, retake day, and then if anyone missed they have to come to studio... that was sort of the plan... would you believe the the last photographer at the school that signed us, wouldn't do a retake day at all?

03/04/2008 03:56:49 PM · #24

Week Three:

Much slower than the last.... Ordered a D300 and a nikkor 50mm 1.8f lens.. to be delieved in the next week or so. the firstbuilding we loked at for lease is not zoned properly for us, but ther is the possibility of anotherone that will be cheaper and higher visibility in an already busy plaza!!! can't wait for the d300 and the lens to :)