Back to Basics!

I’ve been shooting digital images for a while now, and I’m beginning to see how they make me a lazy photographer.  When you have instant feedback, can correct your stuff immediately, or even post-process it extensively, it’s difficult to really get into the process, using the craft, and taking the time to make every shot count.

Additionally, every professional photographer in the city uses digital, and people are learning to expect instant results.  Impatient people get inferior products.  With that in mind, I’ve decided that my niche needs to be a more sedate, studied process.

That’s why I’m returning to the basics:  I’m going to do daguerreotypes. 

The business model is sound.  There is not a single working daguerreotypist in New England, so there’s no competition.  People must be aching for a return to simpler times.  Imagine, if you will, the fascination in little children’s faces as you set up your large daguerreotype camera at their kid’s party.  The anticipation of waiting hours for the results, and only having the one chance to get it right, will undoubtedly add a new and exciting facet to the typical dog-and-pony show that young rich children call a birthday party.

Or theme weddings.  The thrill of being captured in your finery, being held stock-still by special neck clamps as you wait for the 45-second exposure to complete.  This is perfect for those special occasions when only a finely-crafted image on glass will do.

Daguerreotypes are permanent in a way that no film-based photography can be.  Film degrades, but daguerreotypes are glass; unless you break them, they will last for centuries.

I really think I’ve come up with a unique business idea that will make me rich!

Oh, and HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!