Stage photography - Post 2

oskiper · Mar 3, 2016

calamityjane said:
You are going about it completely wrong. The aim is not to cover as many as possible in a slapdash manner, but to do your best work for the client. You are providing a service, not going for a world record. I really can't understand how people are actually paying you to do the dreadful work you do, with inadequate equipment and understanding of the business of either photography or theatre. Assuming you ARE booked up until April with paying work, I can only assume that either a/ there are no competent performing arts photographers in Buenos Aires (I doubt it) or b/ that you are undercutting the competition to a point where a professional could not afford to be in business and you will ultimately end up putting yourself and others out of work. My last business help to you is to suggest that you study the work of performing arts professionals and try to learn from them. Good day to you.

"Dreadful" is a little too harsh as you don´t get what I do, don't you think?
My client is not the press agent nor the director or the actors but a Theater critic that cover the plays. Therefore, my service depends on how many plays she attends. I happen to cover "off-commercial" theatre (I don´t know how you guys may call independent theatre) where professional photographers do not like to go due to the fact you don´t get any recognition whatsoever for doing so and, in the case of theatre-hired photographers (which again, is not my case) they only receive the 20% of what they could get in the commercial circuit.

Most of the plays I cover do not have any photos, simply due to lack of budget, so they started to use some of mine without my consent at first. After a while they started to publish the articles from the site I work for in their own space as our site became more known in the niche. In more than half the cases, this critics are the only way some plays have to promote their show. Many of the actors and lightning engineers work pro bono on this.

Getting the needed gear in Argentina is not even REMOTELY as easy as it may be in Europe or North America. Just to give you an idea, a Canon 5d MIII, a 50mm 1.4 and a 24-75mm af2.8 lenses costs as much AS A WHOLE YEAR of an administrative worker's salary (remember I started just seven months ago and I work as an administrative employee myself). You mentioned I could buy a 50mm 1.8, I simply wouldn´t use it due to the approach I have, I shoot mainly close ups (I'm sure you could've noticed that by watching my photos but I guess you didn't as I'm not apparently even close to your level of magnificence)... Anyway, the easiest way to judge or improve is to say "get a better gear"... That does not help me at all. You just went ahead and discarded my work as it`s not "production" work, didn`t even mention any technical thing that could help me get better pictures but the easy way out that it`s to get a better camera. I happen to believe that the camera does not make the photographer and I can still get some decent photos out of my equipment.

It's a real pity that you did not get any information before giving such a harsh comment. Even more without having a clue about what I actually do. These kind of comments discourage me from participating in a forum as it's not why I do this. I love photography and I do my best to improve with what I have. And I wish I can improve and get a proper gear in the near future.

Anyway, I just come here to discuss photos and photography techniques... I guess this just went out of focus.

oskiper · Mar 3, 2016

xenskhe said:
oskiper, you have a good eye and the heart for this kind of work. Correcting technical approach is comparatively trivial.

Thanks! Any way I see that working on technical flaws I have will give me more tools to get the pictures I´m looking for. I feel I`m yet too far to get pictures that really make me feel happy.

xenskhe · Mar 4, 2016

oskiper said:
I happen to cover "off-commercial" theatre (I don´t know how you guys may call independent theatre)

'Fringe Theatre'.

xenskhe · Mar 4, 2016

The most talented artist I know works in Fringe Theatre/Musical Theatre.
Excellent vocalist, actor, dancer, musician.

Gary A. · Mar 4, 2016

Shoot the dress rehearsal. Some example of my theatre snaps are here:

1) Godspell

2) WHS Talent Show

3) WHS Wizard of OZ

4) WHS Talent Show

xenskhe · Mar 4, 2016

The import duties on camera gear looks high in Argentina. (50%?)

oskiper · Mar 4, 2016

xenskhe said:
The most talented artist I know works in Fringe Theatre/Musical Theatre.
Excellent vocalist, actor, dancer, musician.

No doubt... There`s a LOT of talent in fringe theatre

oskiper · Mar 4, 2016

xenskhe said:
The import duties on camera gear looks high in Argentina. (50%?)

Yeap, a 5D MIII is around 4,500 Dollars, that would be around 68.000 Pesos, an Administrative salary goes around 10.000 pesos, so only in the body you hace almost 7 months of your salary

oskiper · Mar 4, 2016

Gary A. said:
Shoot the dress rehearsal. Some example of my theatre snaps are here:

1) Godspell

2) WHS Talent Show

3) WHS Wizard of OZ

4) WHS Talent Show

I´m on that path mate, soon I´ll be covering rehearsals, as for now, I go with the critic who hires me and she always go to normal shows so she can see the reaction of the audience.

By the way, you have some AMAZING photos on your site!

xenskhe · Mar 5, 2016

oskiper said:
Yeap, a 5D MIII is around 4,500 Dollars, that would be around 68.000 Pesos, an Administrative salary goes around 10.000 pesos, so only in the body you hace almost 7 months of your salary

If you bought a used camera body from ebay seller in say the US, Europe or Japan, the import tax is very high?

oskiper · Mar 5, 2016

xenskhe said:
oskiper said:

Yeap, a 5D MIII is around 4,500 Dollars, that would be around 68.000 Pesos, an Administrative salary goes around 10.000 pesos, so only in the body you hace almost 7 months of your salary

Click to expand...

If you bought a used camera body from ebay seller in say the US, Europe or Japan, the import tax is very high?

Last president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner prohibited that kind of importations... Our new president assumed just a couple of months ago and we hope we can import again... But taxes and shipping costs are high, to give you an idea,, we have to calculate 100% more on the final price to bring a camera so a Canon 5D MIII would cost around 3000 american dollars.

oskiper · Mar 5, 2016

Anyway, I'm saving money to buy a Canon 6D and two lenses by June... Finger crossed!

calamityjane · Mar 6, 2016

xenskhe said:
oskiper, you have a good eye and the heart for this kind of work. Correcting technical approach is comparatively trivial.

He has ...

tirediron · Mar 6, 2016

calamityjane said:
xenskhe said:

oskiper, you have a good eye and the heart for this kind of work. Correcting technical approach is comparatively trivial.

Click to expand...

He has ...

I must have missed the memo where you were appointed as the sole judge of talent and what constitutes a 'good eye'. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing or having a contrary point of view, but please voice it in a civil manner.