Archive for the ‘Business of photography’ Category

Nikon 1 Series Review

Saturday, November 26th, 2011

So a couple of weeks ago we were able to get our hands on the new Nikon series of mirrorless cameras. The video below pretty much sums up what we thought of these little guys. Overall we like them, but could never justify the price for actually owning either of these. There are also a number of features that we find haven’t really been thought through or are just not practical in any way. As well, the menu system is overly complicated considering some of the pre existing buttons on the camera. Again though, they are stylish and produce pretty good imagery/video. So if not for cost, and despite a number of failings, we would still enjoy having them.

Cheers,

Dave Dvir

Keep Inspired

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Staying inspired is something I find works like a swing.  Sometimes it’s incredibly easy and seems like it will never end.  You finish one thing and there’s not even a moment between when you’re eager to start the next.  Other times you just have nothing going on upstairs and you really have no idea where to begin.  As a business owner it’s also tough because I’ve got some additional responsibilities like paying bills or employees or ever making sure we’re all working and attempting to make the best use of everyone’s time.

Some days I’m even so ambitious that it all acts against me in a way.  I’m so eager to work on so many different projects that I am thinking about them all at once and at the end of the day nothing gets done.  It’s kind of like when Mr. Burns had every illness known to man and they all countered each other so somehow he was invincible, only with me it’s sort of the opposite of invincible.

Anyway, the point is sometimes you have to kick yourself in the brain to get out of it.  We found this video and I really liked it.  I actually connected with almost every point and my favourite one is probably the last.  Enjoy.

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

David Dvir

2D Who?!?

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Business cards make it "legal"

As many of our fans and followers know by now, we don’t just do photography anymore.  Seems of late we’re shooting videos, stills, and building Rube Goldberg Machines.  Given all these areas of interested regarding what we actually charge clients for, the decision has been made that “2D Photography Inc.” is an evolved relic of a name.  Hence let me introduce: 2D House!

2D Photography Inc is just too specific a name.  Any person who hears it for the first time will expect that we pump out still photos but that’s about all we’d do.  Since that’s no longer the case we figured having a name that specific is a bad thing unless we can really define what we do with it.  Well, defining exactly what our services are is harder than it seems.  So the alternative is to have a name that’s generic enough that hearing it alone won’t help anyone figure out what we do.  Kind of like Pepsi or Kleenex.  Sure we know these companies now, but at some point these names were no more than a random sound.

“House” seems like a nice umbrella option for the generic kind of name.  We’ve opted to stick with “2D” and just add “House”.  So to recap, new name, same game.

Just remember, 2D House

David Dvir

Great Source of Info for New Photographers

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

There’s a ton of material to go through if you’re new to the biz. Frankly I can’t even began to document all the great sources of information. There is one, however, that I feel is being underutilized a great deal by us all. Imagine a place where you could watch daily episodes of how-to and behind the scenes type stuff. A place where you can also go back and watch hours and hours of previous videos with important photography lessons for free! Well such a place exists. It’s the AdoramaTV youtube channel. These guys have it all. And they’re always adding new info.

I’m extremely surprised by the lack of views/attention this channel gets. Mark Wallace, the host, shares loads and loads of info with great explanations. I have to admit that while incredibly informative, it’s a bit dry. Not quite boring, but sometimes you wished it moved at a faster pace. That being said you can’t deny the knowledge. It’s fantastic. Anyone trying to continue their learning (as all of us should be anyhow) at the entry level MUST visit this channel and spend a few hours on it. I myself continue to boraden my knowledge base by watching these, even now. It’s mostly stuff I already know at this point but I still enjoy re-hashing it.

So that’s my two cents. AdoramaTV is a brilliant source for any would-be photographer and everyone should know about it.

Peace out,

Dave

DIY iPhone 4S Video Mount

Friday, October 21st, 2011

So we felt like shooting with the new iPhone 4S. We were eager to play with that new camera but then realized we needed some sort of system for mounting it. We looked online and found a few such systems that looked really great – the only downside is they were only available online and we would have to wait for shipping. This was unacceptable as we’re extremely impatient. The solution was to make our own!

And why not share that info? Below is our video guiding you through the process. In total we spent less than $4 and including the time it took to acquire all the components and build it, it took us about an hour. It works pretty darn well if I do say so myself. We’re eager to see if anyone else has decided to try this out.

Hope this helps some of you guys out :)

David Dvir

A Recounting of Recent Days – Part 3 (Final)

Friday, October 7th, 2011

After all the initial planning stages were over we had about three weeks.  Three weeks to do what took nearly half a year, and this time around it needed to have a commercial look to it.  The truth of the matter is that I did not know it could be done.  In fact, I expected compromises would have to be made in order to even come close.  The client understood and so we began work on another Rube.

Right from the start we were behind schedule (chalking it up to the postal services).  It wasn’t the greatest feeling thinking that you have to do more than amazing work in order to be less behind than you are.  Still, we persevered.  The three weeks of design/build were intense.  Probably the most intense such period I think 2D has experienced so far in it’s existence.  The trickiest part of all was that between the 14 hour days or the seven day work weeks, we still had to focus on what would be happening after the Rube was done.  Planning other jobs and coordinating the clean up/post production.  It would have been ideal to simply work on the Rube, but as most businesses go, you have to consider the jobs you’re not working on just as much as the jobs you are.  But busy is good and I’m pleased to say everyone involved did an outstanding job and I believe that somehow, I still don’t know how, we exceeded expectations.

Today: we’re taking some R&R to recover from the long work weeks but still working most of the time.  We’ve got even more new and interesting things in development and we can hardly even keep up with them all.  I’m pleased to report that business is good (at least for the time being) and everything seems to have worked out nicely.

The Rube should be released within the next few days and our mystery client will be revealed, as well.  All the while during this process we were also contacted by a couple of television programs that wanted to feature our original Photography Rube Goldberg video which is great as far as 2D is concerned.  So we are actually continuing to see some additional positive mojo coming in from the Photography Rube Goldberg video.

The way in which things have turned out all thanks to a single idea is remarkable.  I’d really like to encourage any readers that may have a “wacky” idea to believe in themselves and if they’re confident then to go for it.  Thinking big is incredibly scary but sometimes you have to just have faith in yourself.  It’s kind of like playing chess.  I realize not everyone will understand this analogy but when you play chess you have to think ahead.  Sometimes you see an opportunity that’s six moves away but you’re sure it will work.  The downside can be you might lose your Queen and some other powerful pieces.  The good side is that despite those losses you will have achieved checkmate on your opponent.  It can be the case that doubting your eventual success may cost you an otherwise brilliant opportunity.  Life is never without risk no matter who you are.  The amount of risk can sometimes be up to you.  The point is, great things can come out of ideas that may seem like long shots.  You won’t know until you take them, though.

Thanks for reading,

David Dvir