11 Dec Paper Dolls
When you are cutting them out and pasting them together no-one seems to bother you on the bus…
I was brought to this conclusion by a week of studio cleaning – getting ready for the start of the 2021 season when we will all be free and happy. The place had gone to pieces with the Covid shutdown and it needed some major re-organisation. Several things were discovered:
a. I have a studio gecko – and not a small one, either. It stomped by on the wall while I was sweeping the floor. I then discovered the remains of hatched gecko eggs in one of the prop storage areas. I am delighted – geckos mean no bugs in the place. I am a little fearful that these small dinosaurs may slither over the model airplanes on the model airfield but so far so good. I had not figured on a Geckzilla remake but we’ll have to see.
b. Props do not last forever – which is a good thing. If they did, they’d get used forever – and you can only see the same fake ivy in a pot so many times before it becomes the only thing you see. I would like to be remembered in my images for something other than stuff from Gone Bazaar.
c. Superior roll paper – the 2750 0r 1325 sizes – lasts a very long time but like most old-timers, gets fragile. You can’t expect to roll and unroll it forever by hand. If you want to get the longest life from it consider a Manfrotto roller system suspended from Autopoles or wall mounts. Even there, once you start to place it on the floor as a scoop you’ll get damage that accumulates. So far the longest-lived roll is one that doesn’t go on the floor – it has a weighted holder clipped to the bottom edge and just rolls up and down to form a blue sky. I hope Geckzilla leaves it alone.
Also note: the absolutely longest-lived Superior roll that you can own is the one you buy for a special shoot that’s so brightly coloured that it cannot be used for any other purpose. I should welcome enquiries from someone who is a fan of bright pink – we may be mutually advantageous to each other.
Just a thought for the studios who don’t know how to use Superior rolls. Don’t roll them out to the end of the roll and them be surprised when the last of the paper falls off the cardboard tube. And don’t ring the shop complaining about a faulty product. They’re all like that – monitor your use and get a fresh roll when you’ve dirtied up the last 1/3 of the roll.
If you wonder what to do with the spare paper, give it to your local kindergarten – the teachers love big sheets of art paper for the kids.
For those photographers who insist that you can duplicate every Superior paper effect with Photoshop – remember that you will sometimes need the reflection of light more than the pure colour itself, and you might find yourself trying to recreate something that you could have had much more easily. The shooter who uses a good lighting setup on a scoop during the shoot vs the person who decides to just fix it in Photoshop can often be found in the pub, rather than the workroom…Just sayin’…
No Comments