5122 Professional video & photography services at
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:03:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: tango@bostonphotographs.com
Subject: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services at
milongas/festivals
As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the results
on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
events).
So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's it.
I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
enough for most people.
To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
like to ask the community.
1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
having the full resolution file for $3.75
2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size image
with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
resolution file for $3.75
3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of 12-15feet,
which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one more
DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
$10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
here :
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
original file which the customer would get.
I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
Cheers
Sorin
my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:46:23 -0400
From: "Ed Doyle" <doyleed@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services at
milongas/festivals
To: "tango@bostonphotographs.com" <tango@bostonphotographs.com>
Cc: tango-L list <tango-l@mit.edu>
<183484970708101146t2d1f407cj5c40e4f7f95ab46d@mail.gmail.com>
Hi Sorin,
Hopefully, in light of your business hopes for the future, my view is a very
tiny minority view, but since you did ask for opinions, I will offer mine.
For me, tango is a very personal thing. A moment in time and space with one
partner, one tanda, one set of other couples sharing the music and the
moment. It is not something I want to or even can revisit. With no
refection on your photography skills, I don't ever want to look at pictures
of past moments. I guess I want to go out and search for and catch the next
perfect wave, but the past wave is gone. A picture is not the same.
I have personally always found the presence of photography at milongas
distracting. Sometimes my partner might want to be in the photograph in a
particular pose and choreographing my dance so that she is in the right
spot, facing the right direction, in the right pose, for me highly detracts
>from the dance. Sometimes I have a partner that does NOT want to be
photographed. Again, choreographing our dance so that we are not in the
pictures distracts and detracts from the dance for me.
Having said that, I can imagine some folks might like to purchase a
movie/dvd of their dancing perhaps for the purpose of learning or correcting
posture issues. For me, this would be best done at a practica, not a
milonga. Even if you do get a particular couples permission, the other
couples are perhaps distracted by your efforts as I outline above.
Well, again, I certainly don't presume my views are shared by the majority,
but perhaps they offer a partial explanation for your lack of success so
far.
Best of Luck.
Ed
On 8/10/07, tango@bostonphotographs.com <tango@bostonphotographs.com> wrote:
>
> As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
> few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the results
> on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
> but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
> put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
> research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
> make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
> events).
>
> So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
> what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
> Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
> cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
> among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
> spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's it.
> I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
> would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
> myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
> a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
> enough for most people.
>
> To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
> and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
> like to ask the community.
>
> 1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
> would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
> having the full resolution file for $3.75
>
> 2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
> download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size image
> with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
> interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
> resolution file for $3.75
>
> 3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
> to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
> this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
> we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
> partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of 12-15feet,
> which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
> DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
> have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
> So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one more
> DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
> $10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
> price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
> here :
>
> https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>
> Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
> original file which the customer would get.
>
> I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
>
> Cheers
>
> Sorin
> my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
> my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
> blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:06:00 +1000
From: "Tango Tango" <tangotangotango@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services at
milongas/festivals
<9fb1555a0708101806h51c1a202u8d2d4d7dacddbbb8@mail.gmail.com>
Sorin.
Did you seriously expect people to reward you financially for coming in and
ruining their night?
What you are doing/suggesting is intrusive.
Regards,
Neil
On 8/11/07, tango@bostonphotographs.com <tango@bostonphotographs.com> wrote:
>
> As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
> few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the results
> on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
> but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
> put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
> research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
> make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
> events).
>
> So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
> what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
> Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
> cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
> among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
> spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's it.
> I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
> would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
> myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
> a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
> enough for most people.
>
> To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
> and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
> like to ask the community.
>
> 1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
> would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
> having the full resolution file for $3.75
>
> 2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
> download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size image
> with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
> interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
> resolution file for $3.75
>
> 3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
> to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
> this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
> we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
> partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of 12-15feet,
> which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
> DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
> have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
> So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one more
> DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
> $10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
> price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
> here :
>
> https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>
> Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
> original file which the customer would get.
>
> I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
>
> Cheers
>
> Sorin
> my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
> my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
> blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 02:14:30 -0400
From: "Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)" <spatz@tangoDC.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services
To: tango-L@mit.edu
Hi Sorin,
While I personally have zero interest in the services you describe (and
so can't comment on the pricing), I might offer a few suggestions
regarding tango photography generally...
_Permission_
Make damn sure you've got the host's permission Well in advance if
you're going to shoot during a milonga, so that they can post a notice
or whatever. I don't want to get into who's got what rights, in the old
privacy vs. lens-head debate. Some people don't like it, period. That
should be respected as much as possible. Especially at festivals, where
it's more of an imposition on out-of-towners who find it a nuisance. You
can't really expect them to stay home or go somewhere else if they've
come a long way (and often paid a higher entrance fee) to dance there.
_Studio shoots_
You might try making appointments with people in your photo studio (if
you've got one set up), so you don't have to work at public events. I
mean, this is where most publicity shots come from anyway. You'd
essentially be a regular photographer, offering the DVD thing as another
service. If you want to go into the a la carte photo business, which is
what you've described, you might as well do it right.
_Shooting dance_
I'm not familiar with your work in particular, but I've seen a lot of
tango photos, and they all suffer from the same issues. You basically
need to be a _sports photographer_ to capture the motion well in stills.
Go practice at a little league game or a high school football practice.
Also, for video, shooting from a high angle, unless you're directly
overhead, tends to lose much of the movement's dramatic quality. Videos
shot at (or slightly below) the belt-line usually convey more of the
dance's immediacy, especially because the bodies are in better
proportion, without undue foreshortening of the legs (where most of the
movement actually is). No camera can quite replicate the impact of live
performance, but this will at least get more of the original energy into
the moving image.
_Tracking_
This last point you may know already... When you're shooting a couple,
you can (and inevitably do) foreground one or the other dancer by
tracking them in the frame. The few times I've filmed friends, I've
tried to be sensitive to this so they get a better result. It can help
you minimize camera movement too. But it means you have to watch the
dancing very intently, which it's not always easy to do through a
viewfinder.
As an aside, I must say I doubt whether your business would be viable.
Anyone who wants a video or picture of themselves, for casual purposes,
can give their cell phone to a friend. And screen res is good enough for
everything but publicity materials. For high res, most of us go to a
friend with equipment (they're hardly rarities in & around the tango
communities) or else visit a photo studio.
If you're doing vids for vanity purposes, shooting at a milonga would be
the wrong way to go for other reasons. Amateurs can shoot at home, do
multiple takes from different angles, cut the thing together cleverly,
and get very attractive results. More attractive, at least, than most
pros could get, with a crowd to negotiate around, and one take of the
song to nail it with.
There's a nickel's worth anyway.
Jake
DC
Tango Tango wrote:
> Sorin.
>
> Did you seriously expect people to reward you financially for coming in and
> ruining their night?
>
> What you are doing/suggesting is intrusive.
>
> Regards,
> Neil
>
>
> On 8/11/07, tango@bostonphotographs.com <tango@bostonphotographs.com> wrote:
>
>> As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
>> few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the results
>> on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
>> but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
>> put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
>> research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
>> make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
>> events).
>>
>> So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
>> what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
>> Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
>> cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
>> among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
>> spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's it.
>> I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
>> would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
>> myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
>> a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
>> enough for most people.
>>
>> To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
>> and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
>> like to ask the community.
>>
>> 1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
>> would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
>> having the full resolution file for $3.75
>>
>> 2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
>> download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size image
>> with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
>> interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
>> resolution file for $3.75
>>
>> 3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
>> to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
>> this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
>> we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
>> partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of 12-15feet,
>> which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
>> DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
>> have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
>> So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one more
>> DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
>> $10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
>> price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
>> here :
>>
>> https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>>
>> Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
>> original file which the customer would get.
>>
>> I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Sorin
>> my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
>> my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
>> blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:57:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services at
milongas/festivals
Hi Sorin,
When we were celebrating the 5th anniversary of our group
earlier this year, one thing I really enjoyed was
assembling for display photographs of our milongas taken
over the years. People really enjoyed seeing how much they
and the community had changed. So I appreciate the taking
of photographs for entertainment and archival purposes.
>>From this aspect, perhaps it is the organizer you should be
approaching about photographing their event. Chances are,
though, in a large community there are people willing to do
it for fun.
However, I also know how difficult it is to get really good
candid shots. When I edited a high school yearbook for 2
years, we?d typically only get 1 or 2 good publishable
action shots in an entire roll of film. I took a look at
several events on your website, and I hope you don?t take
offense, but your work suffers from the same problem. Some
of the work is interesting, but, as I said before and as
Jake pointed out, good candid action shots are hard to get.
It also usually requires some cropping. Jennifer Bratt
has some excellent photographs you might want to check out.
Nowadays, when I take photographs, it is usually with
friends or we?re dressed up special or it?s a moment I
really want to preserve. That?s something I might be
willing to pay for a photograph, and if it shows really
good content (that?s what I like about Jennifer?s photos),
I?d be willing to pay up to $10. But I?m a bit of an
archivist.
Hope this helps.
Trini de Pittsburgh
--- tango@bostonphotographs.com wrote:
> As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer
> and in the last
> few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you
> can see the results
> on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a
> computer programmer
> but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing
> that. As such, I
> put some thought into becoming a full time photographer.
> Part of that
> research was to see if one can combine tango with
> photography and try to
> make some money (not necessarily make a living just by
> covering tango
> events).
>
> So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints
> for sale, at
> what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6
> print).
> Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files
> for a similar
> cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite
> surprised to see that
> among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in
> Providence, Yale in
> spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3
> prints. That's it.
> I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is
> this what you
> would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have
> some good shots of
> myself. One reason I can think of is that people could
> see (and download)
> a decent size picture from the web for free and
> apparently that is good
> enough for most people.
>
> To try to clarify what kind of future a professional
> "Tango photographer"
> and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few
> questions I would
> like to ask the community.
>
> 1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free
> to download,
> would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at
> $3.75? How about in
> having the full resolution file for $3.75
>
> 2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT
> available to
> download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a
> screen size image
> with watermarking covering most of the surface), would
> you have any
> interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
> having the full
> resolution file for $3.75
>
> 3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or
> milongas) a service
> to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It
> would work like
> this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee
> (per song), and
> we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with
> their favorite
> partner (using a device that allows me to film from a
> height of 12-15feet,
> which would allow me to track them at all times). They
> would then get a
> DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality
> recoding. The price I
> have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for
> each song recorded.
> So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be
> $40. If one more
> DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other
> partner, it would be
> $10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in?
> Do you find the
> price: too high, low, about right? An example of a
> recording I made is
> here :
>
> https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>
> Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal
> compared with the
> original file which the customer would get.
>
> I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this
> issue.
>
> Cheers
>
> Sorin
> my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
> my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
> blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>
PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh?s most popular social dance!
https://patangos.home.comcast.net/
Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search
that gives answers, not web links.
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:47:49 -0400
From: Keith <keith@tangohk.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services at
milongas/festivals
Hi Sorin,
Good luck with your venture, but I don't think you're going to have much luck. A few reasons:
1. Everyone has a friend with a camera and, with modern equipment, just about everyone
can point-and-shoot. Nowadays, 'good enough' is often at a very low level.
2. Taking photos is kinda like teaching Tango - everyone thinks they can do it.
3. Dancers are notoriously mean. Whenever we have a dance event in a bar or restaurant,
there has to be a minimum charge. Otherwise people bring their own water, dance all night
and don't even buy a single drink.
Having said that, I have a lot of respect for professionals in any field and the difference
between professional photographers and enthusiastic amateurs is enormous. Not just in the
quality of the photos, but in the way they conduct themselves. In a word, they're
unobtrusive, whereas amateurs get in the way and annoy everybody. It's like they're saying -
look at me and my big camera! I've read a few of the other replies to your post and I suspect
most people have never worked with a professional photographer.
Good luck to you - everybody loves a good photo of themselves - but most people just won't
pay.
Keith, HK
On Sat Aug 11 2:03 , tango@bostonphotographs.com sent:
>As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
>few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the results
>on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
>but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
>put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
>research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
>make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
>events).
>
>So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
>what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
>Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
>cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
>among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
>spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's it.
>I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
>would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
>myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
>a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
>enough for most people.
>
>To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
>and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
>like to ask the community.
>
>1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
>would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
>having the full resolution file for $3.75
>
>2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
>download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size image
>with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
>interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
>resolution file for $3.75
>
>3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
>to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
>this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
>we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
>partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of 12-15feet,
>which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
>DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
>have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
>So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one more
>DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
>$10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
>price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
>here :
>
>https://youtube.com/watch\?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>
>Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
>original file which the customer would get.
>
>I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
>
>Cheers
>
>Sorin
>my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
>my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
>blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:22:41 -0500
From: "Lois Donnay" <donnay@donnay.net>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services
atmilongas/festivals
Cc: "tango-L list" <tango-l@mit.edu>
As I prepare to go in for my photo shoot today, I am reminded of the time I
brought Susana Miller here for a weekend of workshops. In order to create a
brochure, I asked her to send me a photo. She said she didn't have one. I
thought that surprising coming from one of the best known and most
influential Argentine teachers. She explained that with close embrace tango,
there was nothing to see, only feel.
But we are visual people, and I have finally succumbed to the pressure to
create a more professional image for my business. So we'll see if this guy
can get some of the essence of tango while making something compelling for
people's eyes.
Lois Donnay
Minneapolis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Professional video & photography services
atmilongas/festivals
> Hi Sorin,
>
> Hopefully, in light of your business hopes for the future, my view is a
> very
> tiny minority view, but since you did ask for opinions, I will offer mine.
>
> For me, tango is a very personal thing. A moment in time and space with
> one
> partner, one tanda, one set of other couples sharing the music and the
> moment. It is not something I want to or even can revisit. With no
> refection on your photography skills, I don't ever want to look at
> pictures
> of past moments. I guess I want to go out and search for and catch the
> next
> perfect wave, but the past wave is gone. A picture is not the same.
>
> I have personally always found the presence of photography at milongas
> distracting. Sometimes my partner might want to be in the photograph in a
> particular pose and choreographing my dance so that she is in the right
> spot, facing the right direction, in the right pose, for me highly
> detracts
> from the dance. Sometimes I have a partner that does NOT want to be
> photographed. Again, choreographing our dance so that we are not in the
> pictures distracts and detracts from the dance for me.
>
> Having said that, I can imagine some folks might like to purchase a
> movie/dvd of their dancing perhaps for the purpose of learning or
> correcting
> posture issues. For me, this would be best done at a practica, not a
> milonga. Even if you do get a particular couples permission, the other
> couples are perhaps distracted by your efforts as I outline above.
>
> Well, again, I certainly don't presume my views are shared by the
> majority,
> but perhaps they offer a partial explanation for your lack of success so
> far.
>
> Best of Luck.
>
> Ed
>
> On 8/10/07, tango@bostonphotographs.com <tango@bostonphotographs.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> As some of you may know, I am a passionate photographer and in the last
>> few months I covered a few festivals and milongas (you can see the
>> results
>> on my website under EVENTS). I have a 9-5 job, as a computer programmer
>> but I'm getting to a point where I'd like to stop doing that. As such, I
>> put some thought into becoming a full time photographer. Part of that
>> research was to see if one can combine tango with photography and try to
>> make some money (not necessarily make a living just by covering tango
>> events).
>>
>> So for a few of the festivals I covered, I offered prints for sale, at
>> what I thought would be a reasonable cost ($3.75 per 4x6 print).
>> Alternatively, I also offered the full resolution files for a similar
>> cost. While I was not expecting much, I was quite surprised to see that
>> among the three festivals I covered (Alternative in Providence, Yale in
>> spring and Boston in June), only ONE person purchased 3 prints. That's
>> it.
>> I was wondering if anyone cared to comment on that. Is this what you
>> would've guessed? I know I would certainly pay to have some good shots of
>> myself. One reason I can think of is that people could see (and download)
>> a decent size picture from the web for free and apparently that is good
>> enough for most people.
>>
>> To try to clarify what kind of future a professional "Tango photographer"
>> and/or "Tango/videographer" might have, I have a few questions I would
>> like to ask the community.
>>
>> 1) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is free to download,
>> would you have any interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in
>> having the full resolution file for $3.75
>>
>> 2) If a screen resolution picture of you dancing is NOT available to
>> download (but rather just a tiny thumbnail size one or a screen size
>> image
>> with watermarking covering most of the surface), would you have any
>> interest in a 4x6 paper print at $3.75? How about in having the full
>> resolution file for $3.75
>>
>> 3) I was thinking about offering (at festivals and/or milongas) a service
>> to record video of the patrons dancing (on demand). It would work like
>> this, the interested party would come see me, pay a fee (per song), and
>> we'd agree on timing. Then I would record them dance with their favorite
>> partner (using a device that allows me to film from a height of
>> 12-15feet,
>> which would allow me to track them at all times). They would then get a
>> DVD at the end of the evening with a high quality recoding. The price I
>> have in mind right now would be $10 per DVD + $10 for each song recorded.
>> So to have a full 3 song tanda recorded, the fee would be $40. If one
>> more
>> DVD (with the same content) is needed, for the other partner, it would be
>> $10 extra. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you find the
>> price: too high, low, about right? An example of a recording I made is
>> here :
>>
>> https://youtube.com/watch?v=tATLum7aDCc .
>>
>> Obviously the quality the youtube video is abysmal compared with the
>> original file which the customer would get.
>>
>> I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this issue.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Sorin
>> my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
>> my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
>> blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
