My Place In Heaven Has Been Reserved...

Blake Cavett · May 5th, 2009, 06:53 PM

FYI... after photo 927, there is a wet bar at my reserved place in heaven...

Nicholas de Kock · May 5th, 2009, 07:23 PM

This entire thread is hilarious, made my day, your nightmare! Photos eat up system resources, don't even want to know how the render will go. God himself will meet you at the gates, haha :)

Rob Morse · May 5th, 2009, 08:30 PM

When all is said and done, it's your name going on the montage. Anyone should be able to watch a well done montage and have it keep their interest. No matter what you do, even family members will tune it out long before it's over. It's not always about the money and the customer is not always right. You're the professional.

Blake Cavett · May 6th, 2009, 11:34 AM

Actually, I'm not putting my name anywhere on the sucker. I'm handing her four DVDs when it's done. Just like she wants.

The original quote was $4,500 for that many pictures. But she couldn't afford that and a grand was the best she could do. So I came down $3,500 and also came down off of my creativity as well. No dissolves, wipes, movement, etc.

It's EXACTLY what she wants. And as the professional, I'm giving her what she wants.

Rob Morse · May 6th, 2009, 04:09 PM

You're giving her what she wants but what do you get out of it? It's not going to be something you'll be proud of, It's taking all your creativity out of the equation and you're doing it for pennies. Not every job is worth taking. Sometimes you just need to say no.

Jason Robinson · May 6th, 2009, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morse

You're giving her what she wants but what do you get out of it? It's not going to be something you'll be proud of, It's taking all your creativity out of the equation and you're doing it for pennies. Not every job is worth taking. Sometimes you just need to say no.

I don't know ... I could do this in about 2 hours. AND I could do Ken Burns too. That is why I purchased VASST Ultimate S Pro. :-) But US Pro throws some very odd movements every once and a while, so I usually have to correct most of the movements.

But the boredom might cause me to poke my eyes out.

As far as customer vs reputation... I think he is doing the right thing. Do the job, take the money, leave your name off of it. If she is so proud of it, let her refer people. And then he can take a few minutes when he talks to the referrals and explain the non-standard nature of this work.

Jim Snow · May 6th, 2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

If she is so proud of it, let her refer people.

Just think how much fun Blake will have when he gets a reputation for being good at these behemoth montages. Maybe we can help him come up with a good tag line for his web site that highlights this specialty.

Blake Cavett · May 6th, 2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morse

You're giving her what she wants but what do you get out of it? It's not going to be something you'll be proud of, It's taking all your creativity out of the equation and you're doing it for pennies. Not every job is worth taking. Sometimes you just need to say no.

I'm getting a thousand bucks out of it. Started on Monday, finish tonight. A few hours each night and I'm done.

Creativity? I'd love to be creative. But my creativity is something she doesn't want nor can afford. So should I sacrifice income because I can't be creative on ONE project?

Yes, I'm doing it for pennies. 165 pennies per picture, actually. That's one heckuva deal. And if this lady hadn't been so organized and made this task easy to put together, I probably would have turned it down.

I'm not scanning 1,650 pictures and picking the order they go in!

Yang Wen · May 6th, 2009, 06:28 PM

What a waste of money.. what is the point of syncing it up to music during cocktail hour? Better to just hook up an Apple TV or laptop and play the slideshow from that..

Rob Morse · May 6th, 2009, 06:53 PM

Blake, I'm not trying to tell you how to run your business. If you're happy doing it, then that's what works for you. I was just adding my own personal feeling about those types of situations and clients.

Chris Davis · May 6th, 2009, 06:58 PM

So how did it look? Better than you expected? Worse?

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

Aaron J. Yates · May 6th, 2009, 06:59 PM

I'd probably do it, given the disclaimers Blake has made about how fast it will seem. That's a lot of pictures. Sad thing is, after four or five minutes of people being polite and watching the slideshow, they're going to tune it out and it's going to become a background shenanigan really quickly.

I don't know how it is in a lot of urban areas, but in less populated areas like mine, you have to try to take every job that comes at you. That means taking jobs you don't necessarily like, and very often doing jobs for much less than you would want to because you have to get the client before they look elsewhere. So much of my business is based on referrals and repeat customers, I try to never shun a potential new customer.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Ronnie Richardson · May 6th, 2009, 08:08 PM

Glad she didn't cross the river.

Michael Nistler · May 6th, 2009, 10:44 PM

The first thought that came to my mind was to scale the pix and show four up at a time (or more with some pix), displaying each quad for about 4 seconds. For the occasional choice pix, I'd do a full scale zoom-in for another 3-4 seconds (perhaps with a Ken Burns effect).

I suspect your client would be more than happy to select say "the top 50" photos for special highlight. Anyway, just a thought...

Lotsa luck,

Michael

Blake Cavett · May 7th, 2009, 10:52 AM

Hey Rob, no problem and I do appreciate your two cents!

The montage doesn't look 'bad.' Obviously it's not the way I'd like a montage to look. I think it's boring.

But I also have to keep in mind that this is for HER FAMILY, not mine... and just seeing the pictures to the music she selected will probably have everyone 'oohing & ahhing' and such.

I am in agreeance with how this play out at the rehearsal dinner. After 5-8 minutes, I'm sure people will be like, 'Can I eat now? How much longer is this thing? Will it look rude if I get up and grab a drink?'

And those are the things I told her about 3 months ago... but to no avail!

May 5th, 2009, 06:53 PM	#31
Blake Cavett Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Madison Posts: 330	FYI... after photo 927, there is a wet bar at my reserved place in heaven... __________________ I like my oatmeal lumpy.

May 6th, 2009, 11:34 AM	#34
Blake Cavett Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Madison Posts: 330	Actually, I'm not putting my name anywhere on the sucker. I'm handing her four DVDs when it's done. Just like she wants. The original quote was $4,500 for that many pictures. But she couldn't afford that and a grand was the best she could do. So I came down $3,500 and also came down off of my creativity as well. No dissolves, wipes, movement, etc. It's EXACTLY what she wants. And as the professional, I'm giving her what she wants. __________________ I like my oatmeal lumpy.

May 6th, 2009, 06:59 PM	#42
Aaron J. Yates Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kerrville, Texas Posts: 75	I'd probably do it, given the disclaimers Blake has made about how fast it will seem. That's a lot of pictures. Sad thing is, after four or five minutes of people being polite and watching the slideshow, they're going to tune it out and it's going to become a background shenanigan really quickly. I don't know how it is in a lot of urban areas, but in less populated areas like mine, you have to try to take every job that comes at you. That means taking jobs you don't necessarily like, and very often doing jobs for much less than you would want to because you have to get the client before they look elsewhere. So much of my business is based on referrals and repeat customers, I try to never shun a potential new customer. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. __________________ kerrvillephoto.com Photo & Video specializing in real estate and events

May 7th, 2009, 10:52 AM	#45
Blake Cavett Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Madison Posts: 330	Hey Rob, no problem and I do appreciate your two cents! The montage doesn't look 'bad.' Obviously it's not the way I'd like a montage to look. I think it's boring. But I also have to keep in mind that this is for HER FAMILY, not mine... and just seeing the pictures to the music she selected will probably have everyone 'oohing & ahhing' and such. I am in agreeance with how this play out at the rehearsal dinner. After 5-8 minutes, I'm sure people will be like, 'Can I eat now? How much longer is this thing? Will it look rude if I get up and grab a drink?' And those are the things I told her about 3 months ago... but to no avail! __________________ I like my oatmeal lumpy.

May 5th, 2009, 07:23 PM	#32
Nicholas de Kock Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: KLD, South Africa Posts: 983	This entire thread is hilarious, made my day, your nightmare! Photos eat up system resources, don't even want to know how the render will go. God himself will meet you at the gates, haha :)

May 5th, 2009, 08:30 PM	#33
Rob Morse Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 427	When all is said and done, it's your name going on the montage. Anyone should be able to watch a well done montage and have it keep their interest. No matter what you do, even family members will tune it out long before it's over. It's not always about the money and the customer is not always right. You're the professional.

May 6th, 2009, 04:09 PM	#35
Rob Morse Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 427	You're giving her what she wants but what do you get out of it? It's not going to be something you'll be proud of, It's taking all your creativity out of the equation and you're doing it for pennies. Not every job is worth taking. Sometimes you just need to say no.

May 6th, 2009, 06:28 PM	#39
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	What a waste of money.. what is the point of syncing it up to music during cocktail hour? Better to just hook up an Apple TV or laptop and play the slideshow from that..

May 6th, 2009, 06:53 PM	#40
Rob Morse Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 427	Blake, I'm not trying to tell you how to run your business. If you're happy doing it, then that's what works for you. I was just adding my own personal feeling about those types of situations and clients.

May 6th, 2009, 06:58 PM	#41
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	So how did it look? Better than you expected? Worse? I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

May 6th, 2009, 08:08 PM	#43
Ronnie Richardson New Boot Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Priceville, AL Posts: 9	Glad she didn't cross the river.

May 6th, 2009, 10:44 PM	#44
Michael Nistler Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Petaluma, CA Posts: 456	The first thought that came to my mind was to scale the pix and show four up at a time (or more with some pix), displaying each quad for about 4 seconds. For the occasional choice pix, I'd do a full scale zoom-in for another 3-4 seconds (perhaps with a Ken Burns effect). I suspect your client would be more than happy to select say "the top 50" photos for special highlight. Anyway, just a thought... Lotsa luck, Michael