You know I have always heard how life can imitate art.  Never meant much too me since in my mind as an average photographer, any art I created through my favorite hobby of photography was created from real life events or things that I had captured with my camera.  Well my opinion changed this week.  As I was hustling around trying to prepare our August 1st online news letter (sign up for it on the front page of our site), trying to pay all bills that will become due next week, trying to end and reward the winners of our “Sunset” photo contest all my mind could think of was vacation!  Yep, I am outta here for 5 days to visit my aunt & uncle and their generous offer to share the old family house at on of the most beautiful places on this earth, MARTHA’S VINEYARD!  The place where I captured my favorite image of my children to date, where I proposed to my wife at Gay Head , the place where I learned to fear the water like no other, the place where I saw them film JAWS.

Yes life is imitating art.  Shortly after telling a friend of mine that I was headed to the Vineyard, he said with a sly grin, “You have heard about the shark warnings in the area, haven’t you?”  I realized (with that  sudden rush over my body like the one Chief Brody felt when relaxing on State Beach and the first cries of a shark attack whizzed through the air) that yes I was taking my family to the same spot where I watched the movie JAWS being filmed. In 1974 I was pulled around by my grandmother to watch as many scenes being filmed as possible, including “the boy on the raft”.  We are going to the same island I saw the world premier of one of the most famous horror films of all time. Yes, I was going to the Vineyard as shark bait, and did I mention that it just happens to be “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel?  So do I take Mayor Vaughn’s approach and act like nothing is wrong? or do I take the Chief Brody approach and stay out of the water and avoid my family spilling out all over the town dock like the little Kitner boy?  I guess the heat will be the deciding factor, because after record temperatures in both June and July in the Carolinas, I am looking forward to a little Vineyard chill.

If I listen to Chief Brody, one thing is certain, I will have my camera in tow and capture as many images of this beautiful spot as I can.  I will eat Ice Cream, skip stones on light house beach, and think about the 5 generations of my family that have done the same activities before me.  I can not wait for this vacation!  So when life throws you to the sharks, do what I do… take lots of pictures, and have them developed at Mastercolor using our ROES software.

Yesterday I had a good friend of mine stop by our location to pick up a nice order he had placed for Canvas Gallery Wraps of his children. My friend had ordered 29 16×20 or larger to decorate his house with, and after my many grateful thanks, we talked about the pictures he had captured and some of the problems we had in printing them.  When he initially emailed his files to me, many were low resolution, so we had to track them back to the original files.  Others were GREAT shots of his children, but they were shot too tight to allow for the gallery wraps, so we were forced to apply a colored border for the edges of the prints so we did not wrap the subjects of the prints. (see example below)

My friend told me he was excited to hang these prints down at the beach, the same location many of the prints were taken, and I told him to prepare for his future prints and his Christmas Cards.  My buddy is also nice enough to allow Mastercolor to print his Holiday Card each year, and in each year we run into the resolution problems, and the cropping problems so I told him to PREPARE for them.

After my friend left I found myself singing the annoying song from “HOODWINKED”, “Be Prepared” in my head.  This cartoon was a constant at my house two years ago, and my kids pulled it out this past Memorial Weekend when my they took a break from the sun and the quick rain shower one afternoon.   As you can tell from the song title, the theme of this song is to “be prepared”.  So how does this relate to a Blog on a photography website?  Well most of the prints you see displayed at a family’s home are from their summer vacations, or activities that they did outside when the weather was nice.  Of course there is the random “snow” picture or “leaves from Fall ” but the majority of the prints people save and later use are taken in the summer, so BE PREPARED.

Be prepared to use these images later.  Be prepared means backing them up properly (see my earlier blog), but in a nut shell :

1. save your original files twice a month (minimum) from your camera’s card to your computer.
2. Copy those files to a external hard drive,
3. and for the really cautious, burn your files annually to two sets of DVD’s and keep them in separate locations.

I know this sounds over the top, but explain that to another friend of mine who recently lost his hard drive.  His I.T. person compounded the problem and erased what little data there was, and now he is left with only his hard copies.  Which brings up a very valid point, PRINT YOUR PICTURES, and if you do we hope that you will upload your files to Mastercolor using our ROES software.

Be prepared when shooting your images. With digital photography it is so easy to crop when printing so PLEASE, take two steps back before you capture your image, I promise with today’s cameras you will not lose any of your resolution on your print  when increasing your field of capture this little bit.  Taking two steps back when shooting  will allow you to  create the extra space needed when framing, allow for the area needed for a Giclee Canvas Wrap, allow you to position and crop in your Holiday card, and overall create a more eye pleasing photograph.  Please keep in mind these basic tips are not for professionals, just those wanting to shoot like one.

Be Prepared means, TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU!  If you don’t have a camera to capture the fun memories as they happen, it will be hard to share them later with your friends and family.  Look for our end of the Summer Holiday Card special.  For a limited time you will be able to save 25% on our already low prices on folded cards.  Don’t wait for the seasonal rush, have your cards printed in advance and save on time, frustrations and MONEY!

“Be prepared, be prepared….. unless you gotta sparrrrrreeeeeee”

There is nothing better about getting together with old friends.  Last night I enjoyed some slices of wonderful pizza and a few beers with some of my best childhood friends at a new Pizza place here in Greensboro, The Corner Slice.  Excellent food at a great price, and you can read about it here.  Half of this group was in town for the High Point Furniture Market, and the rest of us were just out to see our old buddies.  Everyone was asking the typical questions about the important things in life, and soon it was my turn to answer “so how’s business?”  I was trying to finish my bite of pepperoni and black olive before the question was followed  up with a statement of “rolls of film sure made it easier than digital.”  My friend was making the point that because their first born came at a time when digital was still expensive, slow, and  of poor quality, they used 35mm film to capture their son’s early memories. “Catbird”, as we call him, pointed out  that when their second came along they bought their first digital camera, and as a result now have about 20% of the number of pictures that they do of their first child.

It really does not have to be that way.  Everyone points out to the fact that it was easy to drop off a roll and pick up you prints.  Like the roll makes you do it????  Well here is a news flash for you:

• Your old friend “the roll” could hold a maximum of 36 images.
• A 36 exposure roll would normally cost you  around $4.00.
• You never got your roll back, so $4 GONE.

Now let’s look at your new friend, the digital card:

• You can buy a 1G card for $6.00.
• Your 1G card should hold between 150-400 images
• After you have your prints printed, store your files on your computer, and REUSE!

Now days your card is just like a roll of film, just leave it with the store, and pick it up with your prints. There was a risk when cards use to cost $40, heck even if the lab lost it on your second visit you have still saved money. The one down fall is that you are required to move old files to your computer so that they are not printed over and over again, and it really is not a shortfall because it is forcing you to store your images.

All the time and gas money can be saved  by ordering your prints from home.  I know most feel this is too complicated and they just are not comfortable doing this, but I promise if you do it once, you will never view ordering prints as a frustrating experience again.  There are two types of online ordering.  The first is the most common and is the method most of the big photohouses use to sell their services.  Most online companies have you load all of your images so you and the hundreds of friends and family members that want your vacation pictures (roll eyes) can order from them.  This type of uploading takes what seems like forever.  Come home from a few days at Disney and upload your pictures and I can promise that you will not be using your computer on the internet for a while.  Mastercolor has chosen not to go the shareware route, and we use ROES for receiving images from our customer.  The major difference it that your images are uploaded at the end of your order.  Only the images you wanted are uploaded and this cuts down on uploading time.  You can upload through ROES from the disk or card directly, but this is slower than uploading from a created folder on your desk top.  Another advantage to having them in a folder is that it forces you to back-up your images and store them on your computer.  The same number of images typically will upload between 30%-50% faster in ROES compared to “shareware” due to a compression software within the  ROES program.

Don’t make saving your family’s memories seem like a chore. On Roes you can create:

• Trader cards for your kids
• Canvas Gallery Wraps
• Panoramic Prints ( New special pricing starting May 1st)
• Story or Coffee table books
• Greeting Cards

Give us a call and we will walk you through your first ROES upload, it’s easy and it’s fun!

Please visit some of my previous Blogs on suggestions for storing your files:

I think the thing I like the most about Spring is CHANGE.  ”Change” is all around us.  I would be lying if I said business was “as usual” during the cold of January and February, but the fact is time seems to be standing still during these cold winter months.  However, one of the positives that comes with the lack of orders flowing through our plant is we can plan for change, determine  what changes are needed, and implement changes in the services we extend to our customers.  To prepare for the future at Mastercolor we decided we needed a new printer that could print more 8×10s per hour to meet our commercial needs, but also a printer that could add something to our line that we have been lacking.  Starting May 1st we will be offering affordable panoramic prints sizes 8″x24″ to 12″x36″.  We recently attended the Carolina Nature Photographers Association convention and one of the main request we received was for us to offer volume pricing on panoramic prints, so please check back with us in May, or join our Email list to receive future notifications about our specials.

Change is not limited to the business decisions happening in the office.  Step outside, notice the changes all around you.  I walked out of our office yesterday and looked at a beautiful dogwood in the front lawn of Mastercolor.  All winter this dogwood  looked as if it was not going to make it, but yesterday confirmed my hopes, the buds are on the limbs, and the blooms are right around the corner.  What have you taken a picture of  recently or in years past that let you know that Spring is/was finally here?  If you have a favorite shot please enter your image in our photo contest and possibly win a 16″x24″ Canvas Gallery Wrap and a $50 credit.  The winner is selected by the public and you can vote on three different images daily, so tell your friends to select your print and become our second contest winner.  Good Luck!

Employees of Mastercolor are not eligible to win the “Spring” contest, but if I was I would submit  the picture I took from my car on my way home yesterday.  I was was driving past Page High School here in Greensboro and I looked with pride at what the Page Alumni and Friends Association had accomplished.  I looked at a hill that was once maintained by Alma Pinnix on a daily basis, but years of neglect had taken it’s toll and the ivy had completely taken her over. After hours of hard labor, the hill once again shines with beauty, the beauty that would make Mrs. Pinnix proud.  ”The Hill” as we have called it for the past 12 months means a lot to me, and the beauty that popped out this spring was special to me because my son , PHS class of 2021, planted most of the new  daffodils on the bank and they will be there the spring of senior year.

I’m not sure who coined the term “March Madness”, but I do not think there could be a more accurate term for such a  grand event.  It is the time of year where every school in the Division One Basketball has the chance to make it to the Dance.  It comes at a time of year where my work is Maddening: “Why don’t you people buy pictures in January and February?”  Don’t feel bad you are not alone, nobody buys photos during these months. The Holidays are over, it’s cold, most have not seen the sun in four months, your nose is red from the cold you caught from your child’s friend for the third time, so there just are not a lot of pretty pictures taken in the first two months on the calendar.   During this maddening time of year Mastercolor gets to re invent itself, and plan for the future and to better our company.  New technology is introduced each year at the annual PMA show, we meet new friends at conventions like the Carolina Nature Photographers Association,PPSC,  or the Jackson Photographic Society, the madness of winter offers a new beginning for our company in the same way the NCAA tournament lends fresh new hope to every team in early March.

The Madness is everywhere! Office pools, online hosting sites have contest, friends are ribbing one another, I find it hard to work without checking Inside Carolina to read the latest on the UNC team.  Today when I logged on to Facebook there were five links all taking me to an interview with my Page High School classmate and friend Ken Jeong as he tries to explain the passion of March Madness here on Tobacco Road.  I just can’t seem to get away from it, and I am loving every minute of it!

Unfortunately my favorite team ended all those hopes and dreams of mine last night, the UNC Tar Heels just could not pull of a miracle run to make it to the dance this season, but I still enjoyed watching them try.  The loss to Georgia Tech was a tough one, but if I am going to watch my team lose I want it to be in the Greensboro Coliseum with 19,000 others 60% cheering against my beloved Heels, while the local favorite boast the largest following by far.  The colors there last night remind me of Spring, a rainbow of enthusiasm jumping out annually in early March.

And speaking of Spring, turn off those T.V.’s, grab your camera, take lots of pictures and send them to you favorite online photofinishers: www.mastercolorlabs.com.

If you are like most, you rode the excitement wave of digital cameras right after you bought your new computer to avoid any Y2K issues TEN YEARS AGO.  Can you believe it has been ten years?  You remember your first digital camera, you know the 1.5 mega pixel camera that finally released the shutter 2.4 seconds after you pushed the button.  The one that supplied more pictures of your subject half out of the frame than it did with them smiling for the photographer.

Well now that digital cameras are at rock bottom prices you are probably collecting your old cameras and chargers in a drawer for the day you are going to “need” them.  Let’s be honest, that day will never come. It is estimated that the average household has 3-4 old digital cameras collecting dust in their home. Your top of the line Pentex Optio 3.2  that fits inside of an Altoids case can not hold a candle to what you can now buy for under a hundred bucks.  So what are you going to do with all of these? Someone has to want them, right? …YES! you are correct.

Kids Path of Greensboro wants them, and there is no organization that will put them to better use. Kids Path is the children’s program of Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro and provides home care for children living with potentially life threatening conditions as well as grief support for any child in the community coping with the serious illness or death of a loved one. Kids Path Counselors provide individual grief counseling support as well as Support Groups, a special overnight Grief Camp and workshops.

Pathfinders, the 6 week grief group for teens coping with the death of a loved one, is currently underway at Kids Path and the focus is on Photography.  20 teens have been learning how to use photography not only to express their feelings and reactions related to the loss but also to use photographs as a way of establishing their own voice.  Grieving teens often have a lot to say but no words to say it.  Creating images with digital cameras and working with the Kids Path Counselors and local photographers gives the teens the freedom and creativity of expression that they may not have been exposed to before.  The group culminates in a final Photography exhibit at Kids Path and the teens invite their friends and family to attend.

Most of the families in the program own a digital camera, and Mastercolor wants to help provide each individual with a camera to use and to take home during the program.  Please ship or bring by any older working digital camera that you no longer use.  If you ship a camera in, please include a disk with some of your favorite images and we will be happy to print them and ship them to you for free.  If you want to stop in and drop off a camera, we will be happy to give you a $20.00 gift certificate for any printing needs you may have in the future.

Please help Kids Path of Greensboro, they certainly could use your support.

Our ship to address:  Mastercolor Labs * 2006 N. Church Street * Greensboro NC 27405

This is a question that I have asked myself all weekend leading up to today: February One. Fifty years ago today four brave young men stood up for what the believed in and what was right “ EQUALITY”. Fifty years ago today Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond walked into Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro North Carolina and took a seat at the lunch counter to be served as equals to the surrounding white customers in this once small town. I have heard this story my entire life, I have seen the name on the street in downtown Greensboro recognizing this accomplishment, but it is just recently that I have come to realize how proud I am that this happened in my hometown.  Greensboro is in a celebratory state marking this 50 year anniversary of the historic event. The Civl Rights Museum is opening it’s doors and political figures from all over the country are joining in to celebrate at the location where the race barrier was broken down. National papers are here, there is a wonderful story on the event in this month’s Smithsonian magazine. Owen Edwards of the Smithsonian does a wonderful job of retelling the story of the Woolworth’s sit-in as well as interviews from the four North Carolina A&T students who created this social awareness. The story grew national attention through the wonderful photography of Jack Moebes who was a photographer for the Greensboro News and Record, and was also one of Mastercolor Labs’ first customers. The following photograph became the face of the sit-in:

We have all learned about wonderful acts of bravery that have shaped our nation, but I am very proud to know that I share the community where these four black men took it upon themselves to show the rest of our country that all men were created equal, and all deserved the same rights.  I’m confident that I will never have the courage to act on and make a change as historic as the cilvil rights movements, but I know I am proud to be part of the community that  shared this with the world.

Well it is that time of year ago. The ringing in my head caused by the ringing of the front door are gone. The Holidays are behind us, it is time to move forward into the new year and better every aspect of our lives that we can. Get closer with family, work harder at your job, reach out to old friends and do a better job or meeting new ones, help those that are in need, rescue a beautiful boxer from Carolina Boxer Rescue, and on top of all things DO A BETTER JOB OF BACKING UP YOUR FILES!

See my earlier Blog on how I suggest transferring your files: from your camera to your desk top and then keeping them in folders and THEN uploading them to iphoto or whatever free file sharing service you are using. However, keep you originals! Date your folders by the date you down loaded them, and then put them in a monthly folder and at the end of each month put them in your yearly folder. When the year ends, burn as many DVDs as it takes so that you have two copies of your year’s worth of videos and photo images . Before the end of the year comes, have your files saved to an external hard drive, and to make it easy on yourself, install a program that will automatically back-up for you once or twice a week, or daily if you wish. It is too easy and too cheap to avoid this step in securing your work and your families memories. Most thieves do not steal external components, so if your computer is stolen, you likely will have all the information from the previous day ready to install in your new computer.

However, if you find yourself in that gut wrenching, hopeless, empty situation of having a crashed hard drive, or a disk with a years worth of memories stored on it that can no longer be recognized by your computer, there is hope. Don’t ask me how, but there are services that can recover your data, it is not 100% guaranteed, but they usually can recover most if not all of the data from your drive. The service we trust and recommend to our customers is DriveSavers, . If they can’t save it, than there is not cost to you.

The Perfect Christmas Gift During a Recession

All of us have been affected by the downturn in the economy over the past 18 months. Now the holidays are looming large and we look at our Christmas gift list and our wallets and struggle over what to do. Here’s the perfect solution: give pictures. Not just any pictures but meaningful photos. You can never go wrong by giving someone a photo of someone or somewhere they love. There are many suggestions of how to present the perfect gift for little money:

• Take a few of the digital images from last summer’s vacation that have been on your computer for months and make a collage for your husband’s office.
• Take one of your favorite photos from childhood, reproduce it and give it to a sibling or childhood friend.
• Get photos of your children growing up and put them into a special photo album for the grandparents.
• Take a favorite photo and put it on canvas.
• Scan old family slides and photos and give a CD of all the images to your siblings.
• Take a favorite photo of yourself and give it to someone you love.
• Find an old photo of your great grandparents, scan and print it for your family.
• Take that really cute picture of you and your best friend, frame it and write her a note to tell her how much she means to you.
• New empty nester? Take the photos of your child growing up and give them a CD of all those photos for them to take with them into their new life.

The ideas are only limited by your creativity.
This is the year to give a perfect, meaningful and personal gift that will not break the bank.
Give us a call and let us help you create the star gift of the season.

R. Clark

At Mastercolor Labs we see thousands of different Christmas Cards each year, and every year we are asked “which picture should I use for my card.”  My answer is always, use the photos that show what your family is like in their every day life.  Sure everyone wants to look like a Norman Rockwell Painting, but the cards I remember the most are the funny cards with kids laughing, dogs facing the other way, babies crying, and parents looking frustrated.  Remember you are sending these to friends, and they already know AND like you (hopefully), so be yourself. Put you favorite files on your desktop in a folder and download our ROES Software, and start preparing your own greeting card.  Our ROES software allows you to order straight 4×6 or 4×5 prints, slimline cards (4×6 with a 2″ Greeting on the end), 5×8 deluxe custom cards or 5×7 folded cards.  The ROES software is easy to use, but feel free to call us for step by step instructions.  While you are on the ROES program, why not order a couple Giclee Gallery Wrapped prints?  The perfect photographic gift for the loved ones in your life.

Click here for an instructional video:   http://bit.ly/2Aj3At

Happy Holidays from everyone at Mastercolor Labs!

C.Wright