It had to be Mac, of course, because I didn’t really want to learn about computers. I just wanted to use one for my photography business. About $3400.00 later I had a Mac Plus with Filemaker database (probably version 1.1) software and a whopping 20 megabyte hard drive, which was at the time a ton o’ processing power.
Yes, I am over 45… or so.

It must have been a calling, because I enjoyed spending about 100 hours learning everything I could to design my own templates for a client file, a contact file and an invoice correspondence file. It took some doing but as I progressed, I realized if I could understand the template designs, I’d be able to modify them and troubleshoot my own software. I also thought if I could key my invoice numbers with the date, using the same numbers for filing negatives and transparencies, I would be able to catalogue my entire business and service my clients in an orderly and efficient manner. This seemed like a worthwhile business expense at the time, and it did start to pay off immediately.

When a client wanted an estimate, I had an outline ready to go. Just fill in the blanks. And if my client made changes, I could redo my estimate in seconds and send it off before the job started, so I would be covered in writing as the job proceeded. I still use those Filemaker templates today - with some improvements, of course. Frankly I don’t know how any photographer or designer or anyone in my concentration of business can survive without a database and a computer or network.

It was an exciting time and I could just feel a new age coming. I even bought a version of Photoshop before I knew what the heck I would do with it. Something was in the air and I felt photography was going in a new direction at the time. I also thought I should start scanning my film and work the image on a computer for “output”- converting it back to film.

Funny how the same time computers started entering people’s homes, photography started showing undercurrents of a major change. Shooting three exposures through a bizarre RGB color wheel really did it for me. I never bought one of those capture devices, but it did seem to partner computers with photography for the first time. A digital image had been born, albeit a pretty crappy one and full of technical challenges. But it had arrived, and it was going to change the whole world of photography.

Fast forward to today- email, web surfing, ftp/web sites, digital shooting, editing, archiving, job estimating, invoicing, bookkeeping, How can anyone run a business without constant computer maintenance and upgrading? Yes things are forever different now,and we all have to go beyond being simply shooters and film processors. We are now image capture professionals who must know the high technology that relates to our business, or we may fall behind the curve and not be able to get up again. Take color management. Just a mere few years ago, it really consisted of testing a batch of film, and sending it to a professional processing lab to see if any filtration was needed during shooting. Of course there was a time when different films like Agfachrome and Fujichrome became popular and photographers and labs had to readjust a bit. But testing and filtering a little was about as technical as it got for us photographers.

Now, shooting digitally requires a bit more finessing with raw files, JPEG previews, white balancing and monitor calibration. Even some profiling and more intensive color chart testing may be needed to assure that grays are gray, white are clean, and blacks have no “noise”. It also seems that much of this new burden has fallen on the photographer’s shoulders. The work we deliver to clients and their printers for final reproduction always needs to be accurate.

But we photographers used to stop at providing that film. I mean, that’s what professional photographers did - they provided the accurate film. Now, things are changing drastically and we have to do much more than just make digital pictures and provide accurate film. And as the technology progresses, more will be required of shooters. “Post it on the site - Give me low resolution - Send high res overseas - Rip it up for a 50” poster - Retouch this, clean up that - Add some color.” Did any of us ever think we’d be this involved in delivering our pictures to the final destination? It can be fun and challenging and even give us more control, but are we all ready for this?

We’re talking about serious learning. We are way beyond f-stop and shutter speed with a few program settings. Your computer, software and monitor are the new tools in-house and on location, to make sure you can deliver a job as accurately as you did with film. Clients expect more in this tech age, so bring your laptop, your card reader, your disk burner, a wireless connection and Fed Ex. Slips. Be more ready to turn a job around sooner than you ever have before.

Work flow used to be getting your film from the lab, cutting it up for sleeving or mounting, and editing the best picks for your clients. If you’re shooting digitally now, forget the loupe, the light box, the sharpie, and the whole analog editing system. Now think of delivering the low res JPEGs either from disk, your own ftp section, or your web site.

In the meantime, you’ll be preparing for the next job, checking your computer, clearing out files and updating software so your system is never down. You’ll stop storing film and start looking at hard drives and DVD’s for storage. After a while you won’t know what to throw out or how to make more room for your vast collection of raw captures and processed TIFF files. What geeks we must be, looking forward to the format war between Blu-ray DVD and HD-DVD as new storage formats for the TV, movie and photo industry. Rather than a mere 4-5 gigabytes on a disk, we’re talking upwards of 50 –100 gigs on a single disk, enough for high definition TV and tons of images. And you just wanted to take pictures?
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Hornick/Rivlin Studio is a collaboration of 2 photographers , Rick Hornick and Sandy Rivlin. They joined together in 1990, destined to make photographs which go far beyond commercial, toward a classic interpretation of picture taking enjoyed by the industries of health and beauty, fitness, fashion, portrait and still life.
Their work has solved countless visual challenges over the years and their knowledge of the complexities of production and client needs has always allowed for a smooth operation while shooting in their large daylight studio or on location utilizing available and supplemental lighting techniques.

Please visit their web site, www.hornickrivlin.com, or contact Sandy@hornickrivlin.com.