Re: Recent Professional Works 2

[JoeKitchen]

That's pretty cool Michael.  Is there a way to make the scrolling a little less fast?  I feel like I can too easily go into warp speed. 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... This is a virtual tour...

Dear Lord! I hate all that gimmickry (not directed at Michael)! 

[MichaelEzra]

That's pretty cool Michael.  Is there a way to make the scrolling a little less fast?  I feel like I can too easily go into warp speed.

This might be related to the mouse setting. I've heard that complaint, though not sure this can be adjusted yet, will open a support ticket. On my end, using Firefox and Android browser scrolling is gentle and smooth.

Slobodan, virtual tours seem to be the best way to interactively show real estate with of a complex layout where looking at the still photos won't help to make sense of it:)

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Slobodan, virtual tours seem to be the best way to interactively show real estate with of a complex layout where looking at the still photos won't help to make sense of it:)

I understand the intention, but you know what they say about the "road to hell being paved with good intentions." I also understand that the demand for such gimmickry is driven by (most) real estate agents, who seem to think that "more is more." I tend to subscribe to "a picture speaks a thousand words" school of thought, rather than using a thousand pictures to say one word. I believe that a real estate photograph should be very close to a home-magazine style, conveying the essence of a space in a few carefully executed images. A work of Ashley Morrison comes to mind (used to post in forums here). Again, not a criticism of you, Michael, but more of the whole RE genre.

[Rob C]

I understand the intention, but you know what they say about the "road to hell being paved with good intentions." I also understand that the demand for such gimmickry is driven by (most) real estate agents, who seem to think that "more is more." I tend to subscribe to "a picture speaks a thousand words" school of thought, rather than using a thousand pictures to say one word. I believe that a real estate photograph should be very close to a home-magazine style, conveying the essence of a space in a few carefully executed images. A work of Ashley Morrison comes to mind (used to post in forums here). Again, not a criticism of you, Michael, but more of the whole RE genre.

It's just a cynical way to make a buyer/seller think he's getting better 'value' for his buck. Exacly the same way that car makers fill their tins up with even more junk that nobody needs but everybody has to pay for even though they will never use most of it. And then they make them so pretty you end up driving semi-blind because you can no longer see either the nose or the tail. Wonderful; just what we all needed!

[James Clark]

It's just a cynical way to make a buyer/seller think he's getting better 'value' for his buck. Exacly the same way that car makers fill their tins up with even more junk that nobody needs but everybody has to pay for even though they will never use most of it. And then they make them so pretty you end up driving semi-blind because you can no longer see either the nose or the tail. Wonderful; just what we all needed!

OK, but in a case like this the buyer IS getting more value for his buck, or at least more product.  Let's face it, the vast majority people who commission RE photographers hire very cheaply (as cheaply as possible), and, with the advances in equipment and the wide wide availability of folks that are willing to shoot local homes for pennies (and services that do the same for, literally, tens of dollars), anyone hoping to charge a fee that approaches any sort of worthwhile ROI has to offer bells and whistles to convince the purchaser that its a worthwhile expense.     To my mind, RE photography is an area that has been among the most heavily hit areas of declining perceived value of imagery.   

[JoeKitchen]

OK, but in a case like this the buyer IS getting more value for his buck, or at least more product.  Let's face it, the vast majority people who commission RE photographers hire very cheaply (as cheaply as possible), and, with the advances in equipment and the wide wide availability of folks that are willing to shoot local homes for pennies (and services that do the same for, literally, tens of dollars), anyone hoping to charge a fee that approaches any sort of worthwhile ROI has to offer bells and whistles to convince the purchaser that its a worthwhile expense.     To my mind, RE photography is an area that has been among the most heavily hit areas of declining perceived value of imagery.   

I agree with this whole heartily.  I pretty much ignore real estate as a potential avenue to make money.  With the exception of high end real estate in the city centers (where they will be using your images to sell several hundred units in a residential tower for instance), no agent will spend that money. 

Recently a client of mine was selling his house and referred me to his real estate agent to see if I could photograph it.  He said he realizes what I do and what she was looking for had a canyon of difference between them, so if I needed to say "no," that would be fine.  The realtor wanted to pay at most $75 for a couple dozen images; I of course said no. 

[MichaelEzra]

These days, with accelerated advancements in smartphone cameras real estate agents can just snap most photos themselves. When we bought our house, I wish the builder's agent bothered with at least that much. The way to survive this market seems to be only at the top of the game.

Here a small tour from a recent group exhibit at the Museum of Russian Art in Jersey City: http://photovertex.com/clients/Exhibits/MoRA/MoRA_201606-SpiritOfMay

[Chris Barrett]

I don't get the RE photo market.  I expect it would be more lucrative to focus on class photos / senior portraits.  Why would anyone want to deal with those slimeballs?

[BobDavid]

Hey Joe,

I agree with what a few of the others have hinted at: Use a camera that is an extension of you rather than the other way around. I recommend renting an Olympus OMD 1 and a few lenses. I think you'll find that using a small mirroless camera will loosen you up, see things differently, and ultimately help you become a better storyteller. Lifestyle photography is about showing/telling stories. ... Stay with it and eventually everything will line up.

When I ran my photo business, I had three areas of competency. That really helped keep the sales pipeline flowing. Now that I'm retired, I'm shooting "fine art" photos. I had no idea how much time, effort, and patience it was going to take (a few years of shooting three or four times a week) to get over the hump. ... And I also know that there are going to be a lot of roadblocks ahead. It never ends...

[jng]

Holy cow, with this latest image you've *really* outdone yourself. Bravo!

John

[Craig Lamson]

I understand the intention, but you know what they say about the "road to hell being paved with good intentions." I also understand that the demand for such gimmickry is driven by (most) real estate agents, who seem to think that "more is more." I tend to subscribe to "a picture speaks a thousand words" school of thought, rather than using a thousand pictures to say one word. I believe that a real estate photograph should be very close to a home-magazine style, conveying the essence of a space in a few carefully executed images. A work of Ashley Morrison comes to mind (used to post in forums here). Again, not a criticism of you, Michael, but more of the whole RE genre.

While not RE, I've shot and sold thousands of 360 visual tours to the rv guys.  They loved them because most produce many different floor plans for each model line and shooting quality images is just cost prohibitive, so shooting a pano of each of 50 or 60 trailers at a show was a way to give the potential customer a way to see the different floor plans, while not cutting into the high quality brochure quality images we produced for brochures and advertising. 

Sadly, the rv guys are selling everything they can build these days and some are not seeing the value of good photography currently.  An alarming trend is for the "marketing" guy with a camera to shoot snapshots at these shows and they just call it a day photo wise.  There are still a few good clients left, thankfully. 

[David Eichler]

I don't get the RE photo market...Why would anyone want to deal with those slimeballs?

I don't think it is fair to characterize an entire profession that way. There are "slimeballs" in any profession.

[MichaelEzra]

Sometimes we are all fortunate in finding the right client:)

Back to pictures, here is one from a recent session

[MichaelEzra]

One more:

[Rob C]

I like the black/white one a lot. I think you are using more contrasty lighting than was your thing...

Possibly an age conflict (mine), but I find b/white suits these types of shots far better. Gravitas, which colour finds hard to reach. For some reason, it (colour) states commerce, whereas b/w not, but that's just impression: reality could be the opposite.

Rob C

[MichaelEzra]

This bw image is one of my absolute favorites...
I am going to exhibit nudes at Art Hamptons in the end of June and I was thinking, may be take a couple of prints from this series as an experiment. The 1st one is definitely bw, the 2nd.. it looks great in bw, but which version would one purchase to hang at home?

[MichaelEzra]

One more:

[calindustries]

Shot from recent look book job

[Rob C]

Shot from recent look book job

Love your Guitarman series! It looks as if it really got to you.

Rob C